


A tale of two Gryffindors

by Parkere



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Abusive Dursleys, Animagus, BAMF McGonagall, Body image problems, Book loving Harry Potter, F/F, F/M, Fred Weasley Lives, Grey Charaters, Harry’s 1st year, Hermione Granger is a Good Friend, Hufflepuff Ron Weasley, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Neglect, Past Abuse, Ravenclaw Percy Weasley, Slytherin Ginny Weasley, Smart Harry Potter, Touch-Starved Harry Potter, eating problems, emotional/physical/mental abuse, past trauma, relationships come later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:33:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27778435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Parkere/pseuds/Parkere
Summary: Harry Potter grew up with his (abusive) muggle family, the Dursley’s. When Harry is thrown into this new magical world he meets some people who helps him along the way and makes him realize how important he is. (Relation ships will come later)(I suck at summaries)
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Ginny Weasley, George Weasley/Oliver Wood, Harry Potter & Fred Weasley & George Weasley, Harry Potter/Fred Weasley, Hermione Granger & Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/?, Minerva McGonagall & Harry Potter, Minerva McGonagall/Poppy Pomfrey, Neville Longbottom/Luna Lovegood
Comments: 20
Kudos: 78





	1. From the view of Fred Weasley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fred knew from the moment he laid eyes on Harry that he had to protect him, just like how Harry knew he could trust Fred.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first story and I hope you like it!

The first time I saw Harry was at the entrance to platform 9 3/4. My mum was saying something to my brothers and I about muggles, but I wasn’t listening. As soon as I saw him everything went quiet and it was like nothing else mattered. The first thing I noticed about him was how small and delicate he looked. He was definitely smaller than any young boy should be, making me worried that something bad had happened to him. He had a delicate frame that looked like he could be knocked over by a gust of wind, but the way he carried himself implied that that wind had tried to knock him over before and hadn’t succeeded.

The second thing I noticed about him was his disheveled Raven black hair. It shone in the light and looked soft to the touch, despite how messy it was. I wanted to run my hands through it to see if it was as soft and fluffy as it looked.

The third thing I noticed was his bright green eyes. Their was deep black circles under his eyes. They were wide with curiosity and shifted around the train station, but behind that wonder I could see fear and dis-trust of The world. It broke my heart that I could see that behind such a young and innocent boy’s eyes and made me want to hurt those who had caused the pain to flicker in his eyes. Sadness didn’t belong in beautiful eyes like his, they were a bright emerald green with lighter green. They glistened, making me frown as I wondered if he had been crying. That idea sent a feeling of softness through me and made me want to hold him close to me. It made my heart ache and for whatever reason, at the moment I wanted nothing more than to walk over to this beautiful boy and wrap my arms around him and grab his cart, trapping him between my body and the cart, shielding him from whatever could and had hurt him. He looked to innocent and sweet to have to know the pain I saw lurking behind his eyes earlier. Suddenly I was snapped out of my thoughts when I saw him walking over to us.

“Hello Ma’am” he said quietly to my mother, making her turn around and face him. “I was wondering if you could tell me how to get to platform 9 and 3/4.” He said staring at his feet, his voice was soft and sweet, making my heart beat faster.

“Of course dear. See that brick wall? All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platform 9 and 10. Don’t stop and don’t be scared you’ll crash into it, that’s very important. If you want you can watch my son George go first.” My mom said gesturing at my twin brother. George rolled his eyes. 

“I’m not George. I’m Fred! My twin said with a huff. “Honestly women, you call yourself our mother. Can’t you tell I’m Fred.

“Sorry Fred, dear.” My mom said, shaking her head slightly.

“I’m only joking, I am George.” He said flashing a grin in my direction before rushing between the barrier before mom could punish him. My mom huffed, but turned back to the boy smiling. 

“Do you want to go now?” At my mom’s question the boy’s eyes widened and he looked scared. I felt a twinge in my chest and unconscious put my hand on his. He flinched and looked like he was going to pull his hand back but wrapped my hand around his and began rubbing my thumb in what I hoped was a calming pattern on the back of his hand. After a few seconds I released his hand and let my hand fall to the side. I felt my face heat up slightly and I turned to look him in those bright green eyes.

“If you want we could go together. George already took the cart the held his and my stuff.” I say gently, knowing that I already had frightened the boy by touching him. He nodded his head and I stood next to him and put my hands on his cart. Being right next to him I realised he was shorter than I though. His forehead was at about the same height as my chest. I knew I was tall for my age (I had gotten my dads height, at age 13, I was currently taller than Percy and Charlie, a fact that annoyed them to no end.) and that I was 2 years older than him, but he still seamed so small. Letting out a soft sigh I bent down so my mouth was next to his ear. 

“On the count of three we will run through the wall. Running is easier your first time doing it because you have no time to stop and think. If it makes you more comfortable you can hold on to my hand.” I said, gently moving my hand so it was hovering near his. He looked at it almost fearfully before slowly putting his shaking hand in mine. At his touch I felt a shiver go through my body and I squeezed his hand gently. I had only seen this boy 5 minutes ago and he had barley said 1 sentence to me and I had already held his hand twice. I’ve realised that touching someone was out of his comfort zone, and I felt my heart swell. The second time he had willing taken my hand, and I could see from his face that that was a big deal. I turned to him and flashed him a smile.

“Ready?” I said quietly and he nodded. “Okay, 1, 2, 3.” I said and we started running. He was surprisingly fast, but I still had no trouble keeping pace. As we neared the wall his grip on my hand tightened and I squeezed his hand gently to try reassure him. I could feel a breath escape him when we ran through the wall and he saw what was on the other side. We slowed to a stop and I looked at him smiling. He had a small smile on his face and his eyes were wide in wonder as he looked around.

“Welcome to platform 9 3/4.” I said, my smile becoming even wider. He turned to look at me and flashed me a small smile and I felt my heart melt. He turned back to continue to look around but I still stared at him. He was standing up tall, no longer slouched over and his midnight black hair was a mess. His green eyes glimmered as he drank in the sights and he bit his lip as he did. He looked absolutely adorable. He turned back to me and I quickly looked away.

“Thank you for going with me.” He said softly, looking at his feet again. 

“No problem. How about we go and put your trunk on the train?” I asked him. He looked at the throb of people in front of the train nervously and squeezed my hand tighter. I hadn’t realised we were still holding hands, but I was happy about that.

“After we do that, we could go and find a compartment to sit in.” I added quickly when I saw how scared he looked looking at the crowd. He nodded slowly and we began walking over to the train.

“So what’s your owls name?” I asked him, trying to distract him from the crowds. He looked at his owl, a smile on his face.

“Her name is hedwig.” He said, turning and smiling at me with a shy smile.

“A pretty name for a stunning owl.” I said. She hooted at me happily. He let out a laugh and I found my self memorized. His laugh was musical, sweet and such a pretty laugh. 

“Your quite the charmer aren’t you.” He said, still giggling. I flashed a smile at him, happy I made him laugh.

“I’ve been told that a few times. My twin brother and I like pulling of pranks. And our charms have stopped us from getting in trouble quite a few times. Thought I’m more charming than him.” I said, a sly smile coming to my lips. He giggled again. 

“Quite modest too. Aren’t you.” He said. I made an over dramatic face of offense and gave his hand a genial squeeze. He still hadn’t realized my hand yet and I was going to savor his touch while I could.

“Excuse me good sir, I will let you know that I am I fact quite modest. If you don’t think I’m as charming as I claim, how did I get you over here without you realising that we just walked through a huge crowd of people” I said, coming to a stop. His eyes widened as he saw that we had just gotten through the great proud of people he had been staring at nervously.

“Sorry...” He said in a small voice. “I really don’t like big crowds.” He said staring at his feet. I gave his hand another squeeze.

“I understand, lots of people can be scary. Especially if it’s a huge crowd of pure bloods. Frighting, that lot is.” I say, looking down at him. He looks away at the ground and than looks at me. I clear my throat, not wanting to look away but I have to.

“So, I kinda need to load your trunk on the train and to do that I need you to let go of my hand, if that’s okay?” I said, quietly. He quickly released my hand and turned a bright red, looking at the ground again. My hand felt cold from where he released it. I quickly loaded his trunk on the train and looked back to him. He was still lookin at the ground. I slowly brought my hand under his chin and he flinched a little. I gently lifted his chin up to make him look at me.

“It’s okay, you have no reason to be embarrassed. I’ve been coming to the station since I was 6 to see my elder brothers off. But the first time I ran through the barrier, my brother and I didn’t let each other go until we got back home. If anything I should be the one embarrassed. I never asked your for your name or never gave you mine. If you want we can wait to do introductions on the train.” He nodded at me and I took my hand of off his chin. I held my hand out, seeing if he wanted to take it. I smiled at him, hoping to show he didn’t have to if he didn’t want to. He hesitantly took it and I picked up Hedwig’s cage in my other hand. I lead him into the train and into a empty compartment. I sat Hedwig cage down on one side and sat down. He looked around before sitting next to me, still holding my hand. I smiled at him and introduced myself.

“My name is Fred Weasley and my twins name if George. I’m the middle child and I have 6 siblings. 5 of them boys and 1 of them is a girl. My two eldest brothers Bill and Charlie have graduated. Percy is in his 5th year, George and I are in our 3rd, Ron is in his first like you and Ginny will start next year.” I say, rubbing my thumb over the back of his hand like I did earlier. 

“My name is Harry and I’m an only child. I grew up with my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin who were not magical. My parents died when I was around 1.” He said, a little unsure of himself. I wanted to ask about his parents and what his last name was but I didn’t want to push him. A few seconds later he cleared his throat and continued.

“My dad and mom were both wizards, but my dad was born into a wizard family while my mom was not.” He continued. I don’t want to interrupt him but I want to tell him a few things about the magical world.

“Not that there is anything wrong with the way your saying things...” I begin, “But we have some wizard terms for things that might be useful for you to know. We call people who come from wizard families “pure bloods”. We call wizards from non magic families “muggle born.” and those without magic “muggles”. If one of your parents was a pure blood and the other a muggle born that means your what we call a “half-blood.”” I say, a little nervous that he would take it the wrong way. He gave me another one of those shy smiles.

“Thank you for telling me that. Is there anyway you could tell me more about magic and Hogwarts.” He asks. He has a hopeful look in his eyes.

“How about later. It’s a long ride and I want to get to know you more.” I say, giving him a goofy smile. He flushes a little at this.

“Okay.” He says in a small voice. When he doesn’t say anything else I start speaking again.

“How about you ask me a question and I ask you a question. Is that okay?” I ask Harry, giving his hand a squeeze. He gives me a nod. “Okay, do you wanna go first?” I say and he nods again. He sits there thinking for a moment before turning to me.

“Is there any visual things that can help tell the difference between you and George. I know his voice is slightly different and deeper and yours give me this feeling of safety and comfort, but is there anything looking at you two, not hearing your voices, that I could use to tell the two of you apart.” He says quickly. I think for a moment, thinking of George’s face is like thinking of my own but...

“The biggest difference I can think off is that I have a freckle right here while he doesn’t.” I said, guiding our unconnected hands to my face and resting one of his fingers on a dot diagonally down from my left eye. “When we were young we were playing connect the dots on each others faces and we realised that this freckle didn’t match up. No one but us has noticed it because it’s just one freckle.” I continue as he lightly touches the freckle. I feel my face flush as he begins to rub his fingers over my face where the freckle is. I squeeze my eyes shut and feel my body relax, enjoying his touch. He stops after a few seconds and I open my eyes to see his emerald green eyes wide and his face flushed. 

“Sorry.” He says softly.

“It’s okay, it felt nice. Now I see why cats are always shoving their faces at us humans.” I say smiling at him. He lets out his sweet little giggle and I feel my heart swell. I let myself feel the overwhelming joy for a few seconds before pulling myself back to the real world. I had a question I wanted to ask and I was a little afraid of his answer.

“Okay Harry, it’s my turn to ask a question.” I said gently. He nodded his head, still giggling and I let out a sigh.

“Why did you flinch when I touched you?” I said. Harry immediately stopped laughing and looked at his feet, a habit he seems to have. I looked at his emerald green eyes and they were filled with tears. I could see flashed of hurt and pain lurking behind them. I felt him try to unlace his hand from mine, but I just gripped his hand tighter and rubbed circles on it with my thumb. He let out a small noise that sounded like a sob and started quietly talking.

“My muggle Aunt and Uncle were not fans of magic or me.” He says shrugging his shoulders and I get his implied meaning. They would hurt him because of who he was. It angered me that people could ever think to hurt a kid as sweet as him but I didn’t outwardly react, knowing that it would scare him. He took another deep breath and continued. “So while they treated my cousin like he was heaven on earth, I was their slave and servant. I cooked, gardened and cleaned, and when I didn’t do something good enough I would get punished. It was my fault for not being good enough though.” 

My heart broke a little at this and I wanted to reassure him, but I knew if I interrupted him he would shut down. It seemed like my question had open the flood gates and I could see some tension leave his shoulders as he finally told someone about his life. 

“It’s okay though. I-It wasn’t to bad though, I-I was used to it.” He said starting to stutter a little, tears dripping down his face. He turned away from me, like he was afraid to let anyone see his pain. I reached for him with my other hand and he flinched. He didn’t deserve it, this cute innocent boy didn’t deserve to be in pain. I pulled him closer to me, until we were sitting side by side. I gently put two fingers under his chin and made him look at me. He eyes weren’t focused on me, instead they were looking at the ground. I gently wiped the tears of his face using my thumb. His big, watery green eyes shoot up and looked at my brown ones. I let out a shhhh, trying to calm him. He remained staring into my eyes for a second before he released my hand and threw his arms around me and burried his head into my chest. He had let out a wince when he had moved so I didn’t want to touch his back in case I hurt him, instead I started to play with his hair trying to calm him. He was still sobbing into my chest, but it was getting softer and quieter. After a few minutes his sobbing slowed, but he kept his head buried in my chest.

“S-sorry.” He said quietly. “I don’t know what came over me, I haven’t cried in ages.” He sounded a little ashamed as he said this and it took a lot of restraint not to scope him up into a hug and smother him, telling him it was okay to feel things.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to apologize. You never have to apologize. This isn’t your fault. It’s okay to cry and be hurt, it’s okay to show others your pain. I know we don’t know each other that well but if you ever need someone to talk to or a shoulder to cry on I will be there. I will be there for you, okay Harry?” I said, trying to reassure him. I felt him nod into my chest and his grip around me tightened. After a few more moments he released me and pulled back. His eyes were red and puffy and his hair was a mess, but he looked calmer than he did earlier.

“Thanks.” He mumbled, shyly looking at me. I flashed him what I hoped we a reassuring smile. He started twisting with his hands and I held my hand out. He gave me a shy smile before hesitantly taking it. For whatever reason when he took my hand I felt calmer and from that look on his face he felt calmer too. I was happy he was calm because I knew I was about to approach a difficult subject.

“So um.. if you want me to I could do a healing spell. I couldn’t help but notice that you seemed to be in pain when you moved. I’m just a third year so I don’t know that many healing spells, but George and I made sure to learn some advanced ones last summer for when we hurt ourselves while making products. There still not the strongest, but I’ve had some practice and I’m pretty good at them. That is of course if you trust me enough. It’s okay if you don’t , you could just have the healer do it when we get to Hogwarts instead of that’s what you want.” I blurt out, a little nervous. Harry looks scared, but eventually the pain I saw behind his eyes earlier won out and he nodded. I cast a quick privacy charm on the cabin and turned back to him. He turned his back to me, gripping my hand even tighter and he slowly lifted up his shirt. I stifled a gasp, not wanting to scare him, but I felt tears weld up in my eyes. His back was filled up with old and new scars as well as open wounds. He also had a bunch of bruises and burn marks. I gently ran a hand along his back and I felt him shiver and flinch. I began quickly casting healing spells, first I cast Vulnera Sanentur to speed up the healing of the deeper gashes, than I cast Episkey to heal the bruises and not as deep gashes. Because I’m not as powerful they don’t heal all the way and they heal as scars, so I also cast a bandaging charm to wrap the wounds that didn’t heal all the way. After I’m done I pull Harry’s shirt back down and undo the privacy charm. I’m tired from using the spells but I’m happy that he’s okay. 

“Thank you” He whispers, turning back to me. His eyes reflect how thankful he is and he squeezes my hand tighter.

“Like I said, anytime you need help you can ask me. I want to get to know you and help you.” I say, hoping he knows I mean it. He nods and let’s out a sigh and then I see just how tired he is. I wonder if he had trouble sleeping, but after what he just told me I don’t want to push him.

“How about we sleep for a little bit.” I say. “When the train actually starts moving and leaves the station, George will probably find us and wake us up, but that won’t be for a bit.” I continue, knowing that train won’t leave until 11 and that I was currently only 10:30. Harry nods his head, but still looks a little nervous. I gently grab his head and push it into my lap, making him lie down. He smiles at me shyly before removing his glasses and closing his eyes. As he starts to drift of to sleep I suddenly remember I don’t know his last name.

“Hey Harry, what is your last name?” I ask him.

“Potter.” He mumbles. I’m shocked and I turn to look at him, but he is already fast asleep. I feel a smile tug at the corners of my mouth as he sleeps. He looks so peaceful as he’s sleeping, a feeling I assume he doesn’t get often. Absentmindedly I begin rubbing circles on his hand and I begin stroking his hair as he sleeps. This young, shy boy is the famous Harry Potter. As soon as I repeat that in my mind, my heart sinks. This poor boy has already been through so much in his 11 years of life, and you can bet that with him being the boy who lived, that there will be more pain in him life in the future. I let out a sigh and look at Harry one more time before closing my eyes and drifting of to sleep.

Around 40 minutes later I am woken by the sound of the compartment door opening. I blink open my eyes and see that George and Lee Jordan has opened the door to the compartment and are staring at me. I nod my head to the bench across from me and they slid in, quietly. I look down at Harry and smile. He is laying on his right side and has both of his hands around my one hand against his chest. He is curled slightly into a ball and my other hand is resting on his face. He has a look of pure bliss and when I go to move the hand against his face he lets out a sigh and nuzzles up against it. I let out a slight laugh and look up at George and Lee. They are staring at us in confusion and I roll my eyes. George let’s out a laugh.

“A little stuck their aren’t you Fred.” George said in a whisper, smirking at me. I roll my eyes again.

“He looked tired so I told him to go asleep?” I said, also in a whisper.

“So who is he?” Lee asked quietly, looking at Harry.

“His name is Harry and he’s a first year. He is a half-blood, but his mom was a muggle born witch. He was raised by his muggle aunt and uncle so he didn’t know anything about the wizard world. I ran with him through the barrier and showed him around. When he wakes up I’m going to tell him about Hogwarts at some point. Don’t bombard him with questions because he’s a little shy. Also don’t touch him because he doesn’t like being touched. They only reason he’s fine touching me is because he said he felt comfortable with me.” I say in a whisper. George and Lee both nod at me and we continue to chat quietly. 20 minutes later Harry let’s out a whimper and I start stroking his face and hair. I somewhat hear the compartment door open and I hear a whisper conversation between George and a female voice but I’m focused on calming Harry. A few minutes later Harry stops whimpering and let’s out a sigh. I feel the tension leave his body but I continue to stroke his hair. I look up and see that their are two new people sitting in the cabin. A girl is sitting next to Harry’s feet and a boy is sitting next to Lee. Before I can say anything I feel Harry stir. He lets out a yawn and him emerald green eyes open. He looks scared for a moment before remembering where he is and calming down. He sits up, not releasing my hands. With my free hand I grab his glasses and hand them to him. He takes his left hand off of my hand, but still grips my hand tightly with his right one. He puts them on his face and I see him flush when he sees we’re not alone. I decide to introduce him to everyone.

“Harry, the less handsome, less charming ginger sitting across from me is my twin brother George and that Buffon sitting next to him is our best friend Lee Jordan.” I say smiling at him. George puts an expression of mock offensive on his face while Lee let’s out a gasp. Harry lets out a giggle and shyly waves hi to them.  
“And sorry to you two, but I have no clue who you guys are, I say turning to the two kids sitting next to Lee and Harry.

“I’m Hermione Granger.” The girl says confidently , smiling at Harry and I.

“And my name Neville Longbottom.” The boy says a little nervously. I give him a reassuring smile.

“If your wondering why we are here, it’s because George and Lee helped us find Neville’s frog Trevor and than said we could sit with them.” Hermione says, still smiling.

“I’m am the better half of the Weasley twins, aka Fred Weasley” I say, while sticking my tongue out at George.

“And my name’s Harry Potter.” Harry says quietly. I give his hand a squeeze. George, thankfully buts in to take away the attention from Harry.

“Please, I’m the better half. I managed to convince mom that I was both of us after you left me.” George says, a teasing note in his voice.

“How did you manage to do that.” Neville asked, the curiosity outweighing the nervousness I heard in his voice earlier.

“Easy, she asked me to go grab Fred so she could say goodbye to him, so I left and said I was going to go save us a compartment and walked back to her 5 minutes later to say goodbye as Fred. By the way Fred you owe me, I got smothered my her twice for you.” George said, pouting. Everyone laughed at this and the 6 of us got chatting. Harry was still a little quite and shy, but he participated. I learned that Hermione was a muggle born witch and that Neville was raised by his grandmother after his parents minds were broken.

“So what year and house are you all in?” Hermione asked.

“The twins and I are all 3rd Year Gryffindors.” Lee said, winking at her.

“Harry is a first year, like I assume to two are.” I said, answering for Harry because I knew he would be confused.

“What are houses?” Harry asked quietly and I gave him a reassuring smile to let him know that it wasn’t a stupid question.

“From what my Gran said a House is kinda like your family at Hogwarts.” Neville offered, sounding a little unsure of himself.

“That’s right Neville.” George said smiling at the boy. “There are four Hogwarts house and you are sorted into them based on your personality. The four houses are Hufflepuff, which is the house of the loyal, Ravenclaw which is the house of the creative and studios, Slytherin, the house of the cunning and ambitious and Gryffindor, the house of the selfless and brave.” George continued. 

“A lot of families want their children to be in certain houses, but that is mostly a pure blood belief. Even though my family is a pure blood family, we don’t believes our have to be in a certain house.” I add

“Like one of our elder brothers Percy is in Ravenclaw and our parents are supper happy for him.” George finishes. The three first years nod their heads.

“Can you tell me more about Hogwarts?” Harry asks me. I smile at him and nod my head. 

“Sure, I’ll start with the classes we take. We have 7 core classes, we have transfiguration, charms, potions, herbology, defense against the dark arts, astronomy and history of magic. As a first year you are also required to take flying while as third years we get take specialized classes. I’m taking Care of magical creatures, ancient runes and arithmancy.” I say

“I’m taking Care of magical creatures, arithmancy and Divination.” George says

“And I’m taking care of magical creature, divination and muggle studies.” Lee adds, smiling at all the first years.

“Can you explain what those extra classes are. I’ve read about the core classes, but not those.” Harry says nervously.

“Yeah, I’ve only read about a few of them.” Hermione adds.

“Sure, Care of magical creatures in the study of magical creatures, how to take care of them, their diet and so on. Ancient runes is the study of runic scriptures, in that class I’ve been told that we will get to read and eventually create runes. Arithmancy is that magical way of math.” I say, explaining the ones I’ll be taking.

“Divination is looking into the future and predicting your death type of stuff and muggle Studies is the study of muggles.” Lee says, explaining the other two.

“They sound quite fascinating.” Hermione says, looking like she’s already planning out her schedule.

“What year can we start taking them in?” Neville asks.

“You can start taking them in your third year, when you do you need to take a minimum of two of them.” George says. The three first years nod and Hermione looks like she’s about to ask another question when the trolly lady opens the compartment.

“Would you like anything dearies?” She ask us. George, Neville and Lee start ordering what they want when Harry turns to me.

“I don’t know anything about wizard candies.” Harry says in a whisper.

“Of course you don’t silly, you’ve never heard of them before. I’ll help you order. How much can you eat?” I ask him quietly, remembering how skinny he looked. I knew if he ate to much he would make himself sick. He blushed lightly when I asked the question.

“Not much.” He mumbled. His emerald green eyes were slightly moist and I could see pain and shame lurking in them. I gave his hand a squeeze and turned to the lady.

“Would it be okay if I got something and we split it.” I say. He nods.

“I would like one pumpkin pastry, one chocolate frog and one cauldron cake.” I say to the lady. I pull some money out of my pocket and I help Harry find the right amount of money and we all pay. I drop Harry’s hand and he looks a little sad, and my hand feels cold but we need both hands to eat. When she gives us the treats I cut the cauldron cake and pumpkin pastry in half and hand harry the chocolate frog. We dig into our food and I watch harry as he eats. He eats the pumpkin pastry first and his eyes goes wide as he bites into it. He finishes it slowly, his eyes sparkling the whole time. He eats the cauldron cake next and he has a similar reaction. I noticed that he took a while to finish the last bite of cauldron cake and I don’t want him to push himself. 

“I would suggest saving the chocolate frog for later.” I say, smiling at him. He nods back at me, a relieved look on his face. After everyone has finished eating, Hermione pulls out a book and starts reading it while George, Lee and Neville get talking about Herbology. I pull my out transfiguration book and start reading it. I feel pressure on my left arm and I look down to see Harry resting against it, reading my transfiguration book. When he sees I saw him he blushes and begins to pull away, but I gently press his head back against my arm.

“You can read it with me if you want. When you finish the page you can give my arm a tap and when we’re both done I’ll turn the page. If you have any questions feel free to ask me.” I offer. He smiles at me and we go back to reading the book. 

A few hours later we have gotten through my transfiguration, charms, potions, defense against the dark arts, herbology, astronomy, history of magic, ancient runes book and arithmancy books. Both Harry and I were really fast readers so we got thought them quickly, even with Harry’s questions. We were still no were near as fast as Hermione who had reread every single one of her books and read all of my book. Harry had already read all of his books during the summer so we were going to read my care of magical creatures book next, but we were a bit nervous about trying open it so we didn’t. We had all as a group started conversing about classes and after a few minutes I felt more weight on my arm. I turned to see that Harry had fallen asleep again and both his hands were wrapped around my arm. Hermione, Lee and Neville had also fallen asleep and Hermione’s head was resting on her stack of books. I let out a snicker and felt someone poke me in the arm. I saw George looking at me with his eye brow raised. 

“What?” I asked him in a whisper.

“Nothing just felt like I hadn’t talked to you in a while.” He said, his brow raising even father. I felt myself flush, I had been so busy reading and talking with Harry that I had completely ignored my twin.

“I’m so sorry.” I said, hoping he could hear the sincerity in my voice. He just let out a laugh and smiled at me.

“It’s fine. I can see that you like him. Not many people besides me are able to make you laugh like that.” He says, his eyes twinkling. I stifle a groan.

“George, he’s 11 for heavens sakes and I’m only 13.” I say and George let’s out another laugh.

“I never said you liked him, I said you liked him as a friend.” He said, making his eyes look wide and innocent. I tossed a book at him and he laughed as I felt my face heat up.

“George! I only meet him 6 hours ago.” I say, annoyed at my twin. He laughs again before his expression become more serious.

“What were you two talking about before Lee and I entered the cabin. I noticed when he woke up his eyes were red like he had been crying and that you were being extra gentle with him.” He said, staring at me. I looked at Harry, avoiding George’s gaze, not sure what I should do. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hide anything from George but I didn’t want to get Harry mad so I decided to be vague.

“His muggle family aren’t the nicest.” I said, looking at George.

“By not the nicest you mean...” He begins and I nod.

“I did a few healing charms on him earlier, but it was bad George.” I say, feeling my voice begin to break a little. George let’s out a soothing noise and I continue.

“I also have this feeling that I have to protect him, life has been so unfair on him and it makes me just want to scope him up and shield him from the world.” I say, beginning to stroke Harry’s hair.

“So he’s Harry Potter like he said?” George asks. I nod, still looking at Harry.

“Thank you for changing the subject earlier, I can tell he’s not comfortable with tons of attention.” I say, my voice quite. George stands up and moves the books sitting next to me to his seat and scoots next to me.

“No one would be comfortable with that type of attention. All jokes aside I can tell you really care about him and that he feels safe around you, even thought you two only meet a few hours ago.” He says. I turn to him and he smiles at me.

“Now sleep, if you did healing charms earlier you need your rest.”He says, putting his hand on his hips. I let out a laugh and put my head against his shoulder.

“I love you Gred” I say to him.

“Love you too, Forge.” George replies as I fall asleep.


	2. The welcoming feast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and the gang arrive at Hogwarts after a long and somewhat emotional train ride. Once at Hogwarts they face the Welcoming feast and the sorting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Their is a lot of summarizing in this chapter because I thought the train ride was moving too slowly and I wanted to get the sorting done in Harry’s point of view int his chapter.

Harry

I woke up to silence. I kept my eyes closed, confused where I was for a few seconds. By now Aunt Petunia would have woken me up screaming and slapping me and whatever mattress I was on was a lot more comfortable than my bed. I than, after a few seconds remembered that I was on the Hogwarts Express with Hermione, Neville, Lee, George and Fred. I suddenly sat up and felt my cheeks flush, I had fallen asleep of Fred again. I shook my head, trying to get rid of the thought in the back of my mind saying it was stupid of me to trust Fred. Those dark thoughts didn’t seem to understand that Fred was kind and understanding and made me feel safe. I had never had someone comfort me as much as Fred did. Fred had let me talk about my past without making me feel unsafe. When he had healed me he had ran his hand so gently across my back that I had felt a shiver go down my spine and my cheeks had flushed. He had let me sob into his chest and had comforted me without making me feel guilty. He didn’t ask about the nightmare I had had earlier, instead he had just run his hand through my hair and let me grip onto his hand. He had been understanding that I wasn’t used to eating much and hadn’t pressured me into eating more than I could handle. Fred had let me read over his shoulder and had explained things to me like I wasn’t stupid. Contrary to the Dursley’s belief, I wasn’t stupid. I just knew that Vernons cold, meaty hands would have beat me if I had done better than his darling Dudley. Fred’s hand were the opposite of Vernon’s, they were warm and soft in my hand, making me not want to release it for long. 

I felt my cheeks flush more when I realised I was still holding Fred’s hand. Never had anyone made me feel this comfortable before. I usually hated to be touched, but with Fred I found myself wanting to be held by him and seeking his gentle touch. The voice in the back of my mind told me I should be embarrassed for acting so weak in front of Fred but I was to emotionally drained to be embarrassed. I had pent up all my pain and tears for a long time and it had felt good to let them flow. It was nice to have someone tell me it was okay to cry, Unlike the usual... I let out a quite sigh and shook my head again reminding myself not to think of that. I was free of them for a few months and I would try not to think of them, but I knew that they would never truly be gone from my head. 

I felt Fred shift next to me and I looked at him. I felt his breath leave me as I stared at Fred. Fred’s ginger hair feel over his eyes as he slept and his face made a expression of peace. It made my heart beat faster and my face flush. He looked perfect while he slept, like no one could hurt him. I unlaced my hand from his and stood up to stretch my legs. When I did I noticed that George had moved next to Fred and Fred was sleeping on his shoulder. They looked so cute together that I let out a giggle. I leaned closer to Fred’s face, trying to see if what he told me was true. I looked between their two faces and did in fact see that free had a freckle under his left eye while George did not. Besides the freckles not matching, Fred also has a slight scar on one of his cheeks and George had a slight bump of his nose. If I hadn’t been analyzing their faces side by side and hadn’t had to constantly pay attention to everything my whole life, I don’t think I would have noticed the differences. I was so focused on studying their faces that I didn’t realize that one of those bright sapphire blue eyes had cracked open and was staring at me.

“Hey Harry, what are you doing.” Fred said, letting out a yawn. I immediately felt my face flush and my body freeze up. I tried opening my mouth to speak but I couldn’t. Fred grabbed my hand gently and pushed me back down into my seat.

“Sorry.” I muttered, finding my voice. “I was just seeing if you freckle difference was actually correct.” He flashed me one of those heart melting smiles and let out a laugh. His laugh was musical and was a laugh that was contagious. It made me feel happy.

“Well, was it?” He said, raising an eyebrow playfully. A giggle escaped me and I shyly smiled back at him. 

“Yep, there was also two other things that made you two different.” I said, trying to match his playful tone.”

“Oh, and what are those?” He asked, his curiosity evident in his voice. I shook my head and pressed my lips closed firmly. He let out a another laugh and once again a feeling of safety surrounded me. 

“What are you two laughing at.” George says sleepily, making me jump. I try not to blush at my reaction and instead I roll my eyes. I see a faint smile on Fred’s lips as he opens his mouth to reply.

“Nothing dear brother, I assure you we were most definitely not laughing at the fact that I am undeniably the better looking twin.” Fred says, wiggling his eyebrows. 

“Please, even your reflection is better looking than you, and considering the fact that I am your reflection, I’m the better looking twin.” George says, swatting at him tiredly. The three of us start laughing, waking everybody else up. Soon the twins infectious laugh has spread to Neville and Lee, and even Hermione is smirking. Once we all calm down we continue our discussion on Hogwarts. Hermione begins telling me about two books she read as I pet Hedwig through her cage. She was surprised I hadn’t read them considering they were recommended reads for all muggle and half blood students. She pulls them out of her chest and she hands them to me when I display an interest of reading them. I try to insist she doesn’t have to, but she told me that she had already read the each 4 times. I smile at her and open the first one, which is called a muggleborns guide to the magical world. I unconsciously lean up against Fred and start reading. I hadn’t had this much time to read uninterrupted in forever and I was enjoying every minute of it. By time I finished it Fred told us that it was time for us to get changed. I left the cabin and got changed in a the restroom. I didn’t like the way my cloak hung on my small frame, but it was better then Dudleys hand me downs. As I was walking out of the restroom I bumped into Neville and we headed back to the compartment together. I learned that Neville had grown up with his Gran because his parents were sick. He didn’t say what they were sick with but I assumed it must of been pretty bad considering the tone of him voice. He also told me that his family had been worried he had been a squib because of his lack of accidental magic, so his great uncle had dropped him out of a tower. I shivered at that and told them that they should have been glad he didn’t have much accidental magic, because that probably meant that he had good control of his magic. I told him a few stories of what I assumed had been my accidental magic, including the time I ended up on the school roof, the time I turned my teachers hair blue, the time I let the snake free and the time I caused a micro burst on my street. By time we got back to the compartment he was laughing at my misfortune and I rolled my eyes. I sat down and picked up my other book from Hermione as he began telling everyone what had him laughing so hard. I would let out nosies of approval or disapproval as I read and would sometimes chime in. A little while later as I was finishing the book Fred poked me gently in the side and I looked up. He pointed out of the windows and I could see that we were coming into the train station.

“Remember-“ George began

“-When we get off the train you three will -“ Fred continued 

“-leave your stuff on the train-“

“-As it will automatically be taken to your dorm.-” 

“- Fred, Lee and I will walk over to-“

“The carriages and you three-“

“-Will walk over to Hagrid who will-“

“-Lead you too boats that will-“

“-take you across to Hogwarts-.”

“-Also remember that-“

“-The sorting is just a hat that sits on your head-“

“-But don’t tell our brother that!” Fred finishes with a bow. Hermione, Neville, Lee and I laugh at their theatrics. When the train comes to a stop the six of us walk of the train. When we see Hagrid Hermione, Neville and I wave goodbye to the twins and Lee as we scurry over to Hagrid making small talk. We continue chatting until Hagrid hollars that we have to follow him to the boats. We follow him through a path, and to the lake where the boats are waiting. Hagrid tells us to get into the boats with 4 of us in each boat. I get in a boat with Neville, Hermione and a boy named Theodore Nott. Theodore ignores us as Neville, Hermione and I chat up a storm. We talk about how bright the stars are and other random subjects as the boat drifts across the water. A little while later Hagrid shouts that we are approaching the castle and my eyes go wide. The books Hermione gave me did not do justice to the beauty of the castle. Besides me, I hear Hermione and Neville also let out gasp. Theo let’s out a snort at our reactions but I can see that he is also impressed by the castle. We get out of the boat and follow Hagrid to the castle. As we walk I hear a red hair boy say to two other boys that he heard from his brothers that they are going to have to fight a troll. I let out a snicker, assuming that he is Fred and George’s little brother. Hermione and Neville also heard him talking and Hermione rolls her eyes and Neville covers his mouth to stop his laughter when we hear the red head continue with the troll thing. Soon we walk up a stair case and stop outside of two huge double doors. Hagrid leaves us and tells us to wait their for a while. I resume chatting with Neville when I hear two people arguing. It is Fred and George’s little brother and a pale boy with white blond hair. Theo is standing next to the blond hair boy and the red head sneers at the two of them. I don’t hear everything they say but I do hear the words “Deatheater, bloodtraiter, poor, hand-me-down, and trash.” Hermione let’s out a tut as she rolls her eyes as she glares at the two boys. Soon their bickering is interrupted by the arrivals of a stern looking women who has her silver brown hair pulled up into a bun and is wearing emerald robes and a witches hat.

“Hello first year, my name is Professor McGonagall and I am the deputy headmistress of Hogwarts.” The women begins. “I am also the head of Gryffindor and the Transfiguration Professor. I will show you guys to the great hall to get sorted.” She finishes, glaring at the two boys who were arguing earlier. They both slink back into the crowd and with a humph she starts explaining the houses and the sorting. Once she finishes she tells us to get into rows of two. I end up next to Hermione and once everyone is in the line, she throws open the double doors and strolls in. We follow her and Hermione and I start talking quietly. Neville is in front of us and we hear him mutter something about Professor McGonagall being scary.

“She’s not scary, she’s simply strict and wants to get everything done is a timely fasion. She is terribly busy, but she is also super nice and trustworthy.” Hermione whispers, frowning at the back of Neville’s head.

“Do you know her?” I ask her curiously

“She was the one who told me I was a witch and took me to Diagon alley. She was crunched on time as she had to get through a few other muggle birn first years, but she answered all my questions without getting annoyed.” Hermione said with a shrug of her shoulders. I want to ask more questions but we have reached the front of the room. We slide in next to Neville and for the first time I actual look around the room. There are four long tables and the celling is a nights sky and their our floating candles. I of course read about it in Hermione’s book, but it did not do it justice. All of a sudden I hear McGonagall announce that the sorting is going to start. She walks over to a stool with a hat on it and stands behind it. All of a sudden the hat bursts into song about how it is the sorting hat and will tell us what house we belong in. After its song the room breaks into applause and McGonagall calls the first student up. The hat begins to assign students houses and I half listen until I hear Hermione’s name called. She flashes Neville and I a smile before confidently strolling up to the stool and sitting on it. The hat is placed on her head and is silent for a minute before it shouts.

“Better be.... Gryffindor.” 

I hear applause and shouts from the Gryffindor table and I think I can make out Fred and Georges voice. I flash Hermione a smile as she saunters towards the Gryffindor table. Soon it is Neville’s turn and the hat takes just as long to make its design as it did for Hermione. After a while the hat calls out Gryffindor and I’m sure I hear Hermione let out a squeal. The sorting continues for a while before I see a flash of white blond hair walk up to the stool. He was the kid he was arguing with the young Weasley earlier. I find out his name is Draco Malfoy and as soon as the hat touches his head it shouts out Slytherin. He smirks and I watch him stroll over to the Slytherin table. Soon after him is Theo who is also a Slytherin and before I know it the hat has called my name.

The room is silent as I walk up to the stool and I feel hundreds of pairs of eyes staring at me. My cheeks start to feel a little warm, but as much as I want to draw my shoulders tight to protect myself I resist the urge. When I get to the stool and sit down, I close my eyes as the hat is placed onto my head. I hear a voice speak into my mind

‘Hmmmm... Your an interesting one aren’t you Mister. Potter. You have the traits of all the houses. You are smart and studious like the Ravenclaws, loyal and protective like the Hufflepuffs, brave and determined like the Gryffindors and Cunning and sly like the Slytherins, aren’t you.’

As soon as the hat said the words cunning and sly I felt myself flinch. Those were the traits most often used to describe my cousin and I didn’t want to be near anybody like him. I didn’t want to be beaten again by anybody like him. I felt my breath speed up a little and the hat noticed it to.

‘Oh you poor thing’ The hat said like it had just read my mind ‘That would just be cruel to remind you of your cousin. So not a Slytherin, no. And not a Hufflepuff, even though you have those traits you don’t trust easy. And I don’t think the Ravenclaws would be a good fit, you don’t need the pressure. Hmmm... you are very courages and honest even after everything you have gone through. And they could help bring you it of your shell, and their easy to make friends with. So you... “Better be Gryffindor!” The hat shouts out loud. 

I feel the hat taken off my head and I stroll to the Gryffindor table, my hands shaking slightly. I see Fred pat a spot next to him and a gratefully slide into the spot. George is across from him and Lee is on his other side. Hermione is next to me and Neville is across from me. Neville smiles at me and I give him a shaky smile back. Fred must of noticed my shaking hands because he gently puts one of his hands on top of mine and rubs circles onto it. The circles are soothing and quickly calms me down. I let out a sigh and a warmth spreads through me. I want to sink into the touch and get lost in it but I don’t let myself. Soon I hear McGonagall call for a Ronald Weasley and the red head from earlier walks up to the stage. The hat is placed on his head and takes a few second before calling out the house of the boy.

“Better be Hufflepuff.” The hat cries and the boy smiles. He walks over to the Hufflepuff table, who are cheering loudly for the boy. George and Fred give a few cheers before turning back to us.

“Mom and dad will be happy and so will he. He’ll be the first Hufflepuff out of all our siblings.” Fred says, smiling. 

“And likely the only one too, I’m thinking Gin will be a Slytherin.” George continues before smiling and adding “I’m just happy that he’s not in our house. He’s bloody annoying sometimes.” 

Fred also nods his head. “We now get to be the only ones in gryffindor for another year. And we will never have to be on the same quidditch team as him.” Fred says. Both twins let out a content sigh and we all let out a laugh.

Soon the sorting is over and Professor McGonagall introduces the headmaster Albus Dumbledore. He has almost a menacing glint in his eyes and I feel a shiver go though me as he says a few random words before sitting down. Everybody lets out a shaky applause before food appears on the table. My eyes go wide with shock at the sheer amount of food. Fred leans over a little and whispers in my ear.

“Feel free to take as much as you want. I know you can’t eat much but it is still better to take to much than it is to take too little. It is okay if you don’t end up eating everything on your plate if you eat as much as you can.” He says before leaning back a little and addressing the whole table. “If you want something to drink, just ask your cup. But don’t try asking for alcohol, it won’t give you any.” He says, raising a brow. Hermione rolls her eyes at him, a gesture she seems quite find off. The rest of us laugh as we begin to grab food. 

I take a small piece of roast chicken, a pear and a plum. I eat almost all of it and Fred flashes a smile at me. His grin than turns a little mischievous and he picks up my cup and his cup and he whispers something into it. He hands it to me and I stare at him curiously. He nods his head and take a sip of his, showing me it safe. I slowly take a small sip of mine and I feel my eyes widen in delight. The drink he has given me is peppermint hot chocolate with mini marshmallows and whip cream. I take another sip and let out a sigh, savoring the taste. I had only had hot chocolate once before at school and it hadn’t tasted this good. I slowly finish it, loving at every sip. When I finish it and put my cup down I let out a yawn. I hadn’t realised how tired I was. I lean against Fred, sinking into his warm body before closing my eyes, falling asleep on him for the third time today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be from Fred’s view and should be shorter. I want to do most of the story from Harry’s view, but I do sometimes want to include other point of views for when Harry is unconscious, asleep or not at that given place.


	3. Falling Asleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry has fallen asleep at the feast and it is up to Fred to get him to bed and deal with McGonagall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I know harry is a tiny bit soft in this but he is asleep the whole chapter and I know personally that I am softer when I am tired or asleep.

Fred

I was talking with George when I suddenly felt a weight on my shoulder. I quickly turned around to see Harry asleep on, leaning against me. I let out a quite laugh before gently take his glasses of him and putting them in my pocket. I didn’t want him to accidentally break them, as they looked like they had already been broken multiple times before. I hesitate before casting a quick repario on them. I than take another look at his face and let out another laugh. His hair is sticking up all over the place and is plastered to his forehead. He has a hot chocolate mustache around his mouth. I softly brush his hair off of his face and run my hand through it to make it less messy but I decide that he can keep the hot chocolate mustache. As I move my hand away from his face he lets out a soft sigh in his sleep that sounds a little sad. I hesitantly move my hand down and laces his with mine. I feel his hand gripe mine tight and he lets out another sigh, but this time it is a sigh on contentment. I smile sadly at his sleeping form, realising that from what he told me and how he acts he must be touched starved. He acted like being touched gently was foreign to him and flinched at it, but he also always seamed to relish and sink into my touch, like it wouldn’t be there for long. I give his hand a squeeze before turning back to George who has a eyebrow raised. 

“Comfy there, aren’t you?” George says, a smirk on his lips. I roll my eyes at him and stuck my tongue out.

“It doesn’t matter if I’m comfortable as long as he is. Today must of been a lot for him so I’m fine with being used as a human pillow.” I say softly, not wanting to wake Harry. George let’s out a noise of agreement and we go continue our conversation in hushed tones. After a while I notice Neville and Hermione staring at me. I raise an eyebrow as a way of asking what they want. Hermione points at Harry with a concerned look on her face. I give them what a reassuring nod as I place a finger from my free hand to my lip. Neville nods at me and touches Hermione on her shoulder and leans forwards to whisper something in her ear. She whispers something back at him before flashing me a small small. I smile back at her, happy that Harry already has us to care about him after just meeting him today. I can already tell that those three will become close friends and get most likely get into some trouble, I only hope that George and I, the iconic Weasley twins, are included in their adventures. A few minutes later Dumbledore dismisses us from the feast and tells us to follow our prefects to the common room. I consider waking Harry up but he looks so peaceful that I decide just to carry him instead. He is so small and light that it shouldn’t be a problem. I manage to unlace our hands and gently push his head off my shoulder as I stand up. I than scope him up, one hand under his knees and the other ended his back. I pull him against my chest and he seems to sink into me. Wordlessly Hermione, Neville, Lee, George and I wait before following one of our prefects who happens to be quidditch caption Oliver Wood. We follow him and I see George’s cheeks turn a little pick. I would normally tease him about his massive crush on our captain but I’m to busy make sure I don’t accidentally bump Harry into anything to come up with a subtle comment that would not embarrass him. We follow Oliver through the winding stair cases to the portrait of the fat lady. Oliver tells her the password, Caput Draconis and she swings open, allowing us into the common room. When we arrive Hermione and Neville let out a gasp at the cozy red sitting room. Hermione’s eyes travels across the book shelf’s and Neville eyes all the plants on the windowsills. The 7th year prefect gives us the usually spiel of how girls are allowed into the boys dorm, but how most boys aren’t allowed into the girls dorms and how Hogwarts will decide who’s allowed where. The 7th year prefect than points to the first year dorms. Neville, George and I head up to the 1st year dorms with Harry in my arms as Lee goes to the 3rd year dorms to save us beds and Hermione goes to the girls 1st year dorms. When we arrive into the dorm none of the beds have been claimed so I walk over to the bed on the far right side of the room and Neville walks over to the bed next to it. 

“Hey George, could you please pull the covers back so I can lay Harry in bed?” I ask my twin. He nods and pulls the cover back as I lean over to place Harry in the bed. When I try to he just grips my shirt tighter and buries his head into my chest. Neville and George let out a slight laugh and I roll my eyes at them. I try placing Harry in the bed again but this time he lets out a whimper. I pull him closer, shushing him before turning back to Neville and George.

“Do one of you have an ideas what I should do.” I ask them. George shakes his head and Neville looks thoughtful for a second before speaking up.

“Maybe we should go ask Professor McGonagall.” Neville says, still a little shy around us.

“I’ll do it.” George volunteers. When neither Neville or I say anything he turns and walks out of the room and a minute later returns with Professor McGonagall.

“What did you do this time.” She says, trying to look annoyed at us. 

“We didn’t do anything bad per say...” George begins

“It’s just that when I try to lay Harry down to sleep he grips me tighter and last time I tried he let out a whimper.” I explain. McGonagall frowns at that and looks thoughtful for a few seconds.

“Is their anyway I could see this?” She asks. I nod and walk over to the bed I have claimed for Harry. I start to lower him down, I but he presses himself against me and lets out another whisper. I see his knuckles turn white and I quickly stand back up and he snuggles again my chest. McGonagall looks thoughtful for a few seconds before turning back to the four of us.

“Do you have any idea why he would act this way?” She asks us, concern evident it her voice. Neville and George look at me and I hesitate before nodding my head. 

“Ummm... from what I know his muggle relatives weren’t the nicest so he didn’t get gently touched or embraced that often. He indicated that he doesn’t like touch, but for some reason liked being in contact with me. He has also and a really overwhelming day because he didn’t know magic existed until Hagrid told him” I say, careful not to say to much. McGonagall’s face darkens and I worry that I said to much. But she simply lets out a sigh, like she already knew.

“I suspected as much. I had the displeasure of watching his muggle relatives when he was merely an infant before he arrived there and I had suspicion that he wouldn’t be treated well there. They hated magic and wanted everything to be as normal as possible. I told Dumbledore not to leave him there after I watched them but he insisted that he had to stay there and banned me from going to check up on him.” The Professor said, her anger evident in her voice. “Before lessons tomorrow I want you to take him to the hospital wing to get all his required shots and a medical check up. I assume from your expression that something is wrong. I know you two are powerful for your age, but he needs a professional. If it is helpful, Miss. Hermione Granger could go with you guys to also get her shoots so he doesn’t feel as he is being singled out.” She continued. “And tonight Fred, you could spend the night sleeping next to Mister. Potter if you are comfortable with it.” She finished. I give her a nod and she looked weary and sad

“I’m sorry to ask Professor but from the tone of your voice you sound like you are used to this.” Neville said, voicing what I was thinking. McGonagall let out a sigh and shook her head.

“I’ve seen many cases of mistreatment before. Some from my house and some from other houses so I’m used to dealing with it. I’ve seen it in half-bloods, muggle born and even pure bloods so I almost feel like nothing can shock me at this point.” She continues, her eyes a little misty. “A lot of the children are afraid to accept help but a lot of them told me it got better after I had threatened those who treated them badly and said that I would turn them into a chair if they hurt the poor kids again. I’ve only had to go through with that threat twice.” She finishes, leaving us staring at her opened mouth. She glares at us before letting out a sigh. 

“Anyway, I will inform Harry’s new dorm mates that you are staying the night and I will inform miss. Granger about tomorrow’s plan.” The Professor says before turning on her heel and strolling out of the room, leaving us staring after her.

“Okay, McGonagall is way cooler than we give her credit for. She must be really strong to deal with those cases.” George says, a little shocked that McGonagall did that and sad that she said their had been many previous cases similar to Harry’s at Hogwarts.  
“This is why she’s the professor we prank the least.” I say to Neville when I saw that Neville shaking a little. “But if you don’t cause trouble and aren’t a bully you will never be in the receiving end of her wrath. Even if you fail her class, as long as you try she won’t act like that.” I say reassuring him as I sit on Harry’s bed. George takes this as his cue to leave and he says good night. Neville goes into the bathroom to change but I decide to just sleep in my robs. I remove his glasses from my pocket and put them on the bed side table. I gently lay down on the bed with Harry on top of me and I move my arm from under his knee so he can stretch. When I do that, I flip to my side and he presses himself into my chest. I rest my chin on top of head and I listen to his steady breathing. I let out a soft breath as I closed my eyes, hoping that everything would be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This did not go the way I was expecting it to. I want expecting to include McGonagall in this chapter but an opportunity suddenly arose for her to be a BAMF so I took it.


	4. Meeting Madame Pomfrey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione, Harry and the twins head to the med-wing for their shots. What trouble do they face there and at their first classes?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if it took me a while to update, I was more in a reading mood than writing mood in the past few days.

Harry

I woke up surrounded by warmth and safety, which I never was. I felt my breath become faster as I tried to figure out where I was. Strong arms were pressing me against something warm and I was griping a soft material in my hands. Something was resting on the top of my head and a blanket was tucked around my body. I opened my eyes and realized and I was pressed against Fred’s body. I felt my face heat up when I realized that I must of fallen asleep at diner. I heard Fred let out a yawn and I tried to shift away from him. His arms wrapped around me tighter and I let out a squeak.

“It’s okay Harry, it’s just me.” Fred said, his face nuzzled into my hair. I relaxed slightly, telling that he wasn’t mad by the sound of his voice.

“Sorry for falling asleep on you again.” I mumbled into his chest and he let out a laugh.

“It’s good I like being a human pillow. I think I do a pretty good job at it.” He said, I flushed brighter red and I nuzzled my face further into his chest. He let out another laugh and gave me a squeeze. He than slowly removed his arms from around me and I felt myself missing his warmth. I released his shirt and he rolled onto his stomach to look at the clock next to him. 

“It’s currently 6:25 , and breakfast starts at 6:30, than classes start at 9. So if you want we can get up and get ready now?” He asks me and I nod. He throws open the curtains and we both get ready for the day. When we walk back into the boys dormitory Neville is up gathering his stuff for the day.

“Hey Neville.” I say to him. He smiles at me shyly.

“Hey Harry, Hey Fred.” He replies softly. We talk for two minutes before Fred and I head down to the common room. Hermione and George are already in the common room and wave to us when we get down there.

“Okay. Harry and Hermione, you guys both have to have a mandated muggle born checkup and nurses visit today.” George says to us, clapping his hands excitedly. Hermione rolls her eyes at him but smiles a little. I feel myself shake a little, I’ve never really been to a doctor a before and I don’t want them to know about my injuries. Fred must of realised this because he picked my hand up and gave it a little squeeze. 

“Madame Pomfrey is super nice and will not pressure you for anything.” Fred says soothingly. “Besides, she will just make sure you feel better and give you the necessary shots so you don’t get any magical diseases.” I nod my head and we turn to walk out of the common room.

“What about breakfast?” Hermione asked as we were walking.

“I’m going to pop into the great hall and grab breakfast for all of us and than meet you three in the hospital wing. So what would everyone like to eat?” George asks all of us.

“I’ll have some buttered toast and an apple” say Hermione. 

“I’ll take toast with raspberry jam and a banana.” Fred said. I hesitated for a moment, unsure what to order. Fred flashed me a reassuring smile and I made up my mind.

“Can I please have toast with strawberry jam and a pear?” I ask George. He nods and smiles at me. The 4 of us continue down the halls talking quietly until George splits off from us and Fred leads Hermione and I to the hospital wing. When we arrive at the hospital wing at 7 and Fred pushes open the doors and lead us inside.

Inside their are rows of beds with curtains between them and lots of windows. It doesn’t seam sterile or frighting like most of my muggle books described hospitals to be. 

Their is a women crouched over a table examine potions. Fred clears his throat and the women turns to us, an annoyed expression on her face.

“What have you and that twin of yours done this time?” The lady asked, putting her hands in her hips. Hermione and I shift behind Fred so he’s blocking us from her. Fred raises his hands in front of him in surrender.

“We’ve done nothing yet. I’m actually here to get these two their check ups. Hermione is a muggle born and Harry is a half-blood, but muggle raised.” He says, flashing her a smile, gesturing to Hermione and me who are standing behind her. Her face changes for a moment and she flashed us a bright smile.

“Sorry dears, I didn’t see you there. What houses are you two in.” She says, cheerfully.

“We’re Gryffindors.” I say, flashing her a small smile. Hermione nods her head next to me.

“Yep we are all in the house of your lovely lady.” George says, suddenly coming in behind us. I jump a little and the lady’s face flushes. She clears her throat and changes the subject as George hands us our breakfast and we start eating.

“So as these two trouble makers know, I’m madam med-witch of Hogwarts. I know twin one already said your names but I’d still like you to give me your full names.” She says, rolling her eyes at the twins.

“As Fred said, I’m Harry James Potter.” I begin

“And I’m Hermione Jean Granger.” Hermione chimes in excitedly. Madame Pomfrey frowned a little when I said by name, but quickly brings a smile back to her face.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you two. So because you are both muggle raised, I’m going to have to give you two a series of shots to protect you against magical diseases. I will also give you a full medical scan this weekend because we don’t have time for it today.” She says. I panic a little when she says we’ll get a full medical scan, but as it’s not for a week I hope my injuries have healed by then. I then remember something else important and clear my throat.

“I’ve never had a shot before.” I said quietly. Madame Pomfrey frowns and this time she can’t bring the smile back to her face.

“Did the people who raise you not believe in shots?” She asked, distaste evident in her voice. I shook my head.

“I know they and their son got shots, they just never took me to the doctor. They said I didn’t deserve to be safe.” I said, shrugging. Hermione, George and Madame Pomfrey looked annoyed and Fred gave my hand a squeeze.

“Sorry.” I said quietly. Madame Pomfrey’s face became one of shook and Hermione and George looked Sorry.

“No, no, no, you don’t have to apologize Harry.” Hermione said, her eyes glistening a little.

“You don’t need to say sorry, I’m not annoyed at you. I am simply mad at your relatives for saying that to you.” Madame Pomfrey said, the shock expression not leaving her face. I gave her a shrug.

“It’s not a big deal, I’m used to it.” I said, my voice even. Fred gently pulled me into a hug and I sunk into it. We stood their in silence for a moment before Madame Pomfrey cleared her throat.

“Well, I think it would be best if Hermione went first for her shots so Harry could see what they look like.” Madame Pomfrey says. We all nod and she gestures for Hermione to sit on one of the beds. Hermione goes over and sits on the bed and starts fiddling a little.

“It’s okay Hermione. These type of shots don’t usually hurt, like I’ve heard the muggle ones do.” George says brightly to her, flashing her a smile. She flashes him a smile, but still looks a little nervous.

“Hey Hermione, what did your books say about the hospital wing. A Hogwarts History briefly mentioned it but didn’t go into to much detail.” I said, trying to take her mind of the shots. She smiled at me and began happily telling us about the history of the medical wing and it’s design. She was so excitedly explaining it that’s she didn’t even notice when Madame Pomfrey gave her 4 shots. I noticed them though and I didn’t like the look of them. I looked at the ground not wanting to watch. They reminded me of the times Dudley had shoved pins through my skin or had put tacs on my chair. I didn’t like the idea of the metal going through the skin and into the blood. 

The more I thought about it the more panicked I became. The metal didn’t look very strong, what if the needle broke when she was giving me the shot. What if is accidentally went though the wrong thing. What if it punctured something it wasn’t supposed to. What if it gave me tectntse? I could feel my breathing become ragged and my nails digging into my palms. I felt someone reach for me and I flinched, not looking up. I hunched my shoulders and dug my nails deeper into my palm. Someone gently took my right hand and I tried to take my hand from theirs, but they held tight. They started rubbing circles on my hand and I felt my thoughts calm a little, thought my breathing didn’t. Another hand was gently placed on my chin and I felt myself freeze. They slowly lifted my chin up until I was staring into the worried midnight blue eyes of Fred Weasley. The rest of his face was blurry but I could see his eyes clearly. His mouth moved but I didn’t hear anything. He brought our joined hands to his chest and his mouth moved again. This time I heard it faintly. 

“Breath slower.” It had said. I tried to slow down my breathing but I couldn’t. I couldn’t breath slower. I heard Fred’s voice again.

“Try to follow me.” It said, while pressing my finger tips to Fred’s chest. I could feel his steady heart beat under my finger tips and I tried to follow it. I would occasionally hear his voice counting, which also helped and every so often I would hear him reassure me. After a while everything came back into focus and I was meet with the worried face of Fred Weasley. I gave him a small smile to let him know I was okay. He slowly release my chin and ran his thumb over my cheeks, under my eyes. I realized that I must of been crying a felt embarrassed.

“Sorry.” I said quietly, not looking at his face.

“It’s okay Harry, it’s not your fault.” He said, giving me a sad smile. He pulled back and I saw that everyone was looking at me with worried faces.

“How are you feeling dear?” Madame Pomfrey asked me, worry evident on her face. I felt bad about making them worry over my stupid brain thinking stupid things.

“I’m okay.” I said, not wanting to worry them more. She frowned, but continued. “If you want we can do the shots another day.” I bit my lip and thought for a moment. I really didn’t want to get the shots but I knew I would have to get them eventually and I didn’t want to seem like a coward.

“I’ll take them now.” I said quickly, before I could change my mind. Madame Pomfrey let out a sigh but started to get the shots ready as I sat on the bed.

“I know you’ve never had regular shots but they are way better than regular shots. They don’t hurt and I didn’t even feel them. They also have unbreakable and sterilizing charms on the needles so you don’t have to worry about bad things happening like they do in books or movies.” Hermione said, flashing me a smile. “And none of us will think any less of you if you are scared. My parents told me that when I was 5 and needed to get shots, it took my mother and a nurse to hold me down.” 

She let out a laugh and shook her head at the memory I smiled at her because it was nice of her to comfort me. Madame Pomfrey than walked up with the 4 needles and I squeezed Fred’s hand tighter. Hermione walked to the other side of the bed and held out her hand. I hesitantly stared at it before I also took it. She gave it a gentle squeeze and smiled at me. Her hand wasn’t as warm or as comforting as Fred’s, but I found myself liking her gentle touch. It didn’t remind me of my uncle’s meaty hands or of my aunt’s boney fingers, and for that I was thankful. No, her touch was something new. Like the touch of a sister. 

I was to busy thinking about touch to really register the prick of the needles, I felt something, but all it felt like was the gentle prick of a Pine tree. Madam Pomfrey smiled at us and told us than we had done way better than a lot of other students. She than reminded us to come in on the weekend before sending us away. We start walking to our classes and I’m still holding Hermione and Freds hands. George, not wanting to be left out, grabbed Fred’s hand and we walk hand in hand through the nearly empty hallways. 

Hermione and I have charms with the Hufflepuffs while the twins have herbology with the Ravenclaws. We walk to the charms classroom where I reluctantly let go of Fred’s hand. Hermione and I watch them leave before we enter the classroom. Not to many people are here yet but we do see Neville chatting with three other Gryffindors.

“The girl he is sitting next to is one of my dorm mates. Her name is Parvati Patil and she seems nice. The two boys behind him are your other two dorm mates. I think their names are Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan, but I could be wrong.” Hermione says. At that moment Neville calls out to us.

“Hey Hermione, hey Harry.” He says cheerfully. We walk over to him and take the two person desk next to him.

“Hey Neville.” I say, giving him a small smile.

“How was the hospital wing.” He asks.

“Madame Pomfrey was super nice and the shots weren’t as bad as the muggle ones.” Hermione says. At this Seamus looks at us.

“Oh, did you two go and get the muggle born shots?” He asked us. We nodded our heads and he smiled at us. “I have to go later today to get them, it’s a relief to know their better than regular shots.” 

I smiled back at him and the six of us started chatting. A few minutes later the other students began to walk in and eventually the teacher did as well. The teacher’s name was professor. Flitwick and he was really short so he had to stand on a pile of books. He started of by teaching us the theory of charms and than gave us a spell to use to make feathers float up.

“Are you ready?” Hermione asked me and I nodded my head. On the count of three we both said wingardium Leviosa and pointed at our feathers. Both of our feathers began to float up to the celling. 

“20 points to Gryffindor for Hermione and Harry’s excellent feather floating.” Professor Flitwick cried, nearly falling off his stack of books. Hermione and I smiled at each other before gently bringing the feathers down. I turned I help Neville while Hermione turned to the boy sitting on the right of her.

“It’s LeviOsa , not leviosa.” Hermione said to the boy. He mumbled something about her being a know it all and I turned around to look who it was. It was Fred and George’s little brother Ron Weasley. Hermione and Ron started arguing about pronunciation when I heard a boom and jumped. I turned around to see that Seamus had managed to blow up his feather. At the explosion Flitwick had fallen of his books and was now staring at a sheepish looking Seamus. 

“5 points from Gryffindor for Mr.Finnegan’s talent at blowing up a feather with Wingardium Leviosa. And 10 point from Mr.Weasley for berating Mrs.Granger for being a good student and helping him. Class is now dismissed.” Professor Flitwick said. 

At that Hermione, Neville and I gathered our books at scurried out of the room to our next class. Our next class was Herbology and we had it with the Ravenclaws. Professor Sprout was super nice and helpful. I remembered some of the plants from our textbooks, but Neville seemed to know everything. He easily became one of Professor. Sprouts favourite students in the first 10 minutes. The rest of the day flew by quickly. After dinner Hermione, Neville, Fred, George and I did homework in the common rooms. After I finished my work Hermione and George checked it for mistakes while Fred and I checked Hermione and Neville’s. Neville than checked everybody’s Herbology. After we finished our homework Hermione, Fred and I each settled down with a book while George and Neville played wizards chest. After a while we decided to go to bed. Before I left for my dorm room Fred gave me a gentle hug and I had melted into his embrace. Hermione had also given me a quick hug and had given me plenty if notice and time to back out of it before she did. When I let her hug me her face had lifted up and she made sure to be gentle. After her hug Neville and I waved them all goodbye and we walked up to our dorms. I got changed in the bathroom before crawling into bed, satisfied after my first day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, I’ve been in a reading mood which has given me lots of ideas and a few revelations. Like how Professor Quirll (aka Voldy) was one of the best DADA professors Harry had. Like he thought them more than Lockhart and the pink toad (Umbridge) did. Like how does Voldemort feel about that?


	5. Transfigurations and Lunch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s their first transfigurations class and Harry and Hermione can’t wait. What will Seamus manage to blow up this time?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspiration struck because I looked up what year they learn about animaguses.

Harry

Hermione, Neville, Fred and George were excellent company and I found my self staring to trust them. It frightened me a little because I had only known them for around 4 days, but at the same time it made my heart swell. I had never had friends before because Dudley had scared everyone away from me. But he wasn’t here now and couldn’t hurt me anymore.

Hermione and I sat next to each other in every class. It was Thursday so we had already had Charms, herbology, defense against the dark arts, astronomy and history of magic. All the teachers were nice, if not a little strange. 

Professor Quirll was nice enough, but he was a little bit of a stuttering coward. He seemed afraid of his own shadow and hadn’t taught us much. 

Professor Sinistra was also nice, though she was a little cold and emotionless. But she did have a passion for the stars and was eager to have us learn about astronomy. 

Professor Binnns was a literal ghost and Lectured us about the goblin wars. He didn’t seem particularly awear of anything, he didn’t even notice when Seamus managed to blow up his quill(a talent of his). He never took off house points which was a good thing considering the fact that no one took his lessons seriously. Hermione and I had taken to reading about history outside of class.

Today we had transfiguration is the morning and flying in the afternoon. After a quick breakfeast Hermione, Neville and I headed off to transfigurations. Hermione and I took a desk in the front and Neville took the desk behind us.

After a while more students started to fill in. We were the only house who had transfigurations right now so Parvati sat with Dean next to Neville and Seamus sat a few rows back with a girl named Lavender brown, as none of us really wanted to be near Seamus in a class where their was the likely possibility of something exploding. As the last stragglers came in and sat down Professor McGonagall still hadn’t appeared. A lot of the students had started whispering but Hermione and I just looked at the cat on the desk. A few minutes later a bell went off on the desk and the cat got up and stretched, before hopping of the desk and shifting back to Professor McGonagall.

“Good morning class and welcome to first year transfigurations. As you know I am your head of house and the deputy headmistress. I will not hesitate to take points away and punish you all if you are causing trouble even if you are my house. That being if your have any problems feel free to come to me and I will help you to the best of my ability.” The Professor began and I felt myself smiling. 

She gave off a grandmotherly feel even though she seemed quite strict. She than began her lecture on the use and theory behind transfigurations. After talking for a while she decided to give us our first practice lesson.

“Today I will teach you how to transfigured a match stick into a needle. If you could please make a straight line so I can watch and help you individual, this will be much easier.” She said. At that everyone got up and formed a line. Hermione and I were in the back behind Lavender and in front of Seamus while Neville, Dean and Parvati were in the front. There were also two girls I didn’t know and 1 boy I hadn’t yet seen in the dorms. Soon we began and everybody had a varying degrees a success. 

Parvati managed to turn the match silver while Dean managed to make it slightly pointy. Neville was able to make it thinner and one of the girls made it pointy and created the eye. The other girl and the boy both made the match turn a grey colour while Lavender didn’t do anything. When it was Hermione’s turn she took a deep breath before concentrating on the match. It slowly became thinner and silver, before becoming pointy. It was a little crooked but besides that it looked exactly like a needle.

“10 points to Miss. Granger for a near perfect needle.” Professor McGonagall said, a small smile on her lips as she looked at the girl. Hermione flushed a pink colour before bowing her head to the Professor and moving out of the way. 

Then it was my turn. I walked up tit he match and took a deep breath. I looked at Hermione who flashed me a confident smile before turning back to the match. I closed my eyes and pulled the image of the match up into my head before focusing on what I wanted it to become. I focused on stretching the match out so it became longer and thinner, I focused on changing the colour from brown to a bright silver colour and than I focused on making the rounded bottom sharp forming the eye. By the end of it I had the picture of a silver needle threaded with red thread in my mind and when I opened my eyes that exact needle from my mind was there, thread and all. I felt my mouth make an O shape and looked at professor McGonagall. Her expression was one of shock and pride.

“15 points to Gryffindor for Harry Potter’s perfect needle.” McGonagall said, flashing me a smile. I felt my cheeks heat up to the same colour as the thread and ducked my head before standing next to Hermione. She flashed me. A smile before tilting her head at me and lifting her arms. I realised she was asking for permission to hug me. I gave her a nod and she wrapped her arms around me in a strong hug. I burried my face into her bushy hair a let out a sigh as I sank into her embrace. 

One thing I have realised over the past few days is that I do like to be touched, but only if I trust the person and gave me a warning. So far I have found that I’m comfortable being touched by Fred, George, Hermione and sometimes Neville, though I do enjoy Freds touch more than the others, even though he and George are twins. I let out another sigh and continued to stay in Hermione’s embrace. I than heard a boom and jumped a little before Hermione gave my a shoulder a squeeze and I let out a groan, pulling myself out of her embrace.

“What did Seamus do this time.” I asked her in a whisper. She jutted her chin out at the table and I turned to look on it. I let out a laugh before covering my mouth with my hand. Seamus had lit his match on fire and his face was covered in soot. McGonagall Let out a huff and cast a quick charm, cleaning off the soot.

“10 points from Gryffindor for the fire caused by Mr. Finnigan.” She said, a small smirk on her face. Seamus eyes were wide and his hair was sticking up. At this Dean let out a snicker and we all started laughing. Seamus put on a pout and walked over to Dean.

“Dean it’s not funny.” He whined.

“I mean, it kinda is.” Lavender brown said, smirking at him.

“The only classes you hadn’t managed to blow something up in was astronomy.” Parvati said, smiling at him mischievously. Seamus let out a huff and draped himself onto Dean.

“Deannn, are you just going to let the bully me like that.” Seamus said, making puppy dog eyes at Dean.

“What, is the Gryffindor scared?” One of the other girls said, smirking at Seamus. 

“Why are you guys all teaming up on me.” Seamus sighed dramatically.

“Because your the one who keeps blowing things up.” Hermione says, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, you should be thanking Harry and Hermione for earning us back the points you lose.” Dean says, looking down at Seamus.

“I think it’s actually that Seamus is losing the points the Hermione and Harry earn.” Neville says.

“ Technically, it’s been a little bit of both.” I add, a smirk tugging at my lips. At that the 10 of us break into another fit of laughter and I turn to see McGonagall smirking at all of us. Before regaining the strict look on her face.

“If you 10 are done with your banter, you should probably be heading to lunch before a professor takes points off for you 10 being late.” She says, raising her eyebrow. The 10 of them quickly left the classroom and he was introduced to the three students he didn’t know.

The boy war pale with blue eyes and blond hair and was a pure-blood wizard. His name was Earnest Macmillan but he insisted that they called him Earnie.

One of the girls had straight black hair and crescent shaped dark black eyes. She was a half blood and she told him that her father was an British Brian wizard and her mom had been a muggle exchange student from South Korea at the college her father had lived near after Hogwarts. She was the girl speak had made the needle into it’s actually shape and her name was Lily moon.

The other girl had auburn red hair darker and duller the Weasleys, honey skin and dark blue eyes. She was a pure blood, but not a British one. She said her father was from Hawaii and that her mother was from Ireland and that her father had attended Ilvermorny before he had moved here. She said her name was Sophia Roper, but that she preferred Sophie. 

The ten of continued talking as we made our way into the great hall. When we got into the great hall and I saw Fred and George sitting and eating lunch. Hermione and I waved goodbye to the others and told them we would see them at flying before walking over to Fred and George. I sat across from Fred and Hermione sat next to me across from George. 

“Hey you two, how has your classes been.” I asked the two of them. Fred flashed me a smile before answering.

“A little hectic, like the first week usually is, as you know from our homework sessions. I am more interested in hearing what you and Hermione think off your classes so far.” Fred said. George nodded his head in agreement.

“Well I think my favourites so far are charms and transfigurations.” Hermione said. I nodded my head in agreement.

“I think I also like defense, I just don’t like Professor Quirll that much.” I add. “Herbology is also interesting.”

“Correction, all the classes are interesting.” Hermione says and I once again nod to agree with her. The twins let out a laugh before getting back to asking us questions.

“So what do you think of Professor McGonagall?” George asks us.

“She seems really nice and like she cares greatly about her students.” I say thoughtfully.

“She’s also strict, but she didn’t take points if for not doing well. The only person she took pints off was Seamus for exploding his match.” Hermione adds.

“And she gave Hermione and I points for doing well.” I continue.

“Now my needle was pretty good, but Harry’s was perfect. She looked really proud of us.” Hermione says, smiling a little.

“And what she did when she turned into a cat was really cool!” I finish, sharing a grin with Hermione. We look at a twins and they have identical mischievous smiles on their faces.

“Will you look at that Forge.” George says smiling.

“I know, can you believe it Gred!”

“Their finishing each others thoughts-“

“Just like us!” They say, making over dramatic faces of surprise

“We must be wearing off in them.”

“I would guess so Gred!” They conclude, giving each other a high five. Hermione and I laugh at their antics. I guess Hermione and I had been getting close through I shared interest but nothing would ever rival the twins in tune-ness.

“Anyway, about McGonagall...” George says

“She is an animagus.” Fred continues.

“What’s an animagus?” I ask them, my near photographic memory not pulling anything up.

“It’s like a persons animal form. Their is another thing called a patron us which is like their spirt animal guardian, but this is what animal is most like the person.” Fred explains

“We just started learning about them yesterday in transfigurations, but we did a little bit of research before hand” George adds

“We learned that their are 7 registered animaguses.”

“And quite a few unregistered ones.”

“We have a map...”

“That we believe may belong to some of the unregistered animaguses.”

“But we will never know” Fred says, letting out a sigh.

“How do you become an animagus?” Hermione asks, curiously.

“Well you have to be skilled in Transfigurations and Potions.” Fred starts

“And have patience because you have to carry a single Mandrake leaf in your mouth for a month from full moon to full moon.”

“And then you have to Add a silver teaspoon of dew from a place that neither sunlight nor human feet have touched for a full seven days. You then have to add the chrysalis of a Death’s-head Hawk Moth to the crystal phial as well. Then put ‘this mixture in a quiet, dark place’ and leave it alone until the next electrical storm.” 

“While waiting for the storm, you must place your wand tip over your heart every sunrise and sundown and speak the following incantation: ‘Amato Animo Animato Animagus’. If you keep repeating your incantation, there will come a time when, with the touch of the wand-tip to the chest, a second heartbeat may be sensed.” 

“As soon as lightning appears in the sky, go to the place where you’ve hidden your crystal phial. If you’ve done everything right then you will discover a mouthful of blood-red potion inside it. Then move somewhere where you aren’t going to alarm anyone or place yourself in physical danger during your transformation.”

“Place your wand-tip against your heart and speak the incantation ‘Amato Animo Animato Animagus’ and drink the potion. You will then feel fiery pain and an intense double heartbeat.”

“The shape of the creature into which you will shortly transform will appear in your mind. The instructions then warn: ‘You must show no fear/ It is too late now, to escape the change you have willed’.”

“When your transformation is complete you are strongly advised to pick up your wand and hide it somewhere safe”

“so you can find it post-transformation. To return to human form, visualise your human self as clearly as you can. With practice, you will be able to slip in and out of your animal form at will, simply by visualising the creature.

“Once you’re an advanced Animagus, you should be able to transform without your wand.”

“But we have been told that the first transformation is usually uncomfortable and frightening. Clothing and items such as glasses or jewellery meld to the skin and become one with fur, scales or spikes.”

“And that when you first transform, try to avoid panicking otherwise the animal mind may gain the ascendancy and you could do something stupid or dangerous. George finishes, smiling at a shocked Hermione and me.

“So you can’t chose your form?” I ask, still a little confused.

“Nope. To put it simple, the form chooses you.” George explains

“Just like how the wand chooses the wizard.” Hermione says under her breath.

“Yep, for a lot of things magic chooses for you, it is all wise and powerful after all.” Fred says, a teasing tone in his voice.

Hermione turns to me, an expression of wonder in her face. “We are totally investigating this after homework, right?” She asked raising a brow.

“We total are, are you okay with it being potentially illegal?” I ask her, knowing she likes rules. She rolls her eyes.

“ I’m fine with breaking rules as long as their isn’t a huge chance we will get caught.” She huffs and I give her a smile.

“Or unless their stupid rules” I say, agreeing with her. She nods and the twins let out a laugh.

“Well, you two better eat quickly.” Fred says

“Unless you want to be late to flying!” George exclaims.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did not intend to spend a whole chapter on transfigurations and lunch, but I did. I had wanted to get through potions this chapter, but c’est la vie. Anyway, what animaguses do you think the four will be? 
> 
> I’m thinking Harry will be a black cat because of all the bad luck he has, but he also does have 9 lives. He also is cuddly when he wants to be, but usually independent.
> 
> For the twins I’m thinking Red foxes because of their tricks and jokes. Also it goes well with their red hair. Or I could do wolves (probably red wolves) for their bravery and playfulness.
> 
> For Hermione I’m thinking either a Australian Shepherd because of her intelligence and because she cares a lot and wants to protect people. Or a blue Jay because Jays are boisterous, energetic and noticeably intelligent. Scrub-jays also are the only animal besides humans who actually plan their actions based on how they may feel in the future.
> 
> Anyway, tell me what you think!


	6. First flying class

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and the gang show up for their first flying class with Madame Hooch. What could possibly go wrong in a flying class with a vertigo Neville and a Slytherin and a Hufflepuff who are always at each others throats?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 6 is here. I’m surprised that I got it done before the weekend. I hope you enjoy.

Harry

After the talk with the twins, Harry and Hermione began walking down to the courtyard to the practice field near quidditch pitch. Hermione was eating an apple as they walked and he had a small handful of pistachios. They had spent the whole lunch talking so Harry didn’t get to eat anything, but that didn’t bother him.

He was used to constantly skipping meals. If he hadn’t had to go to the great hall every day he probably wound of forgot to eat. It just want natural for him to not eat 3 meals a day. Heck, he wasn’t even used to eating 2 meals a day.

When he did eat, he still didn’t eat much. He didn’t think his stomach could handle anything rich or heavy and was thankful that he had fallen asleep the first night so he hadn’t felt pressured to eat more and make himself sick. The others may have now realized that he was a light eater, but he still noticed the worried looks Fred, George and Hermione flashed him sometimes.

Often while eating when they though he wasn’t looking, one of them would put a handful of grapes, blueberries or nuts in him plate, encouraging him to eat more. So he ate the little handfuls of stuff they gave him without complaint. It was nice having people to encourage him sometimes.

Hermione was done with her apple by time they reached the practice field and they went to stand next to a nervous looking Neville.

“Have I mentioned how terrified I am of heights?” Neville asked them as they approached. Parvati and Lily, who were standing next to Neville, rolled their eyes. Both Hermione and a Harry let out a laugh.

“Yes Neville, I think you’ve mentioned trout crippling fears of heights once...” I said.

“Or twice” Hermione chipped in.

“Or maybe around 100 times.” Lily said in a teasing tone, nudging Neville. Neville flushed a Gryffindor red and was going to respond just as Dean and Seamus walked up.

“Did you four hear?” Seamus said as he slid into line next to Hermione.

“Did we hear what?” Parvati asked him.

“That not on,y do we have flying with the Slytherins today, but we also have it with the Hufflepuffs because they were rained out yesterday.” Dean answered for him, shaking his head. Everyone but Hermione and I let out a groan.

“Why is that bad?” Hermione asked confused.

“That dear Hermione, means that we will have to use the worst brooms.” Ernie said, coming up behind us with a winded looking Lavender and an amused Sophie.

“I’ve never played quidditch before but it sounds similar to a sport I played whenever we visited my family in America.” Sophie said smirking.

“Well I’ve never been on a broom before so... wish me luck.” I said, flashing them a smile.

“I’m really the one you should be wishing good luck. Last time I was on a broom I fell of after 10 seconds and landed on ass.” Lavender said, still a little out of breath from who knows what.

“Please, we should really be hoping Seamus doesn’t find away to set the broom on fire.” Dean jokes, giving Seamus a bump. Seamus lets out a snort.

“Really, I think we should be hoping that you don’t accidentally crash into the goal post again. Besides, I never managed to light a football on fire, so what makes you think I would a broom.” He retorted.

“Ladies, ladies.” Lily said, holding up her hands as Seamus and Dean glared at her. “I think the one we should really wish luck in Neville. After all, he is the one who broke his nose when summoning a broom to him.” She finished with a smirk.

“Do you not understand the meaning of the words ‘This is an embarrassing story you won’t repeat.’” Neville asked her

“Oh, I didn’t repeat it.” Lily said innocently. “I merely paraphrased it.”

“You are such a Ravenclaw.” Neville grumbled at her.

“And you and Ernie are such Hufflepuffs.” She replied, her smirk growing bigger. We all turned to Ernie to hear his reply and he simplistic raised an eyebrow.

“What, I’m not going to deny what’s true.” He said. At this the 10 of us burst into giggles over the whole conversation. Our laughter came to a stop when we heard a sharp whistle noise. I jumped a little and grabbed onto Hermione’s hand. She gave my hand a squeeze as we turned to where the noise came from.

“Over here all of you, get in two lines.” A short, stern looking women called out. We all rushed over to her and all three houses combined into two lines. I was in between Hermione and Parvati and across from Lily, Dean and Seamus. Neville, Lavender, Ernie and Sophie were on the opposite end of the line from us.

“Okay.” The teacher huffed once everyone was settled. “I am Madame Hooch and I am the flying teacher and one of the refs for Quidditch. Now today we will be learning how to mount and fly your brooms. Their better be no funny business or I will ban you for your whole Hogwarts career from quidditch.” She continued firmly.

“Good? Now, stand next to a broom and hold your hand out like this. Than on my command you are going to start to try and summon your broom up to your hand by saying up.” She continued.

Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath, thinking what tone to use on the broom. Madame Hooch began counting down from 3 and on 1 Harry opened his eyes.

“Up” He said in a quite, but firm voice. It was the kinda voice McGonagall used to quite a room.

At once the broom shot up into his hand. He closed his hand around it, feeling the familiar sense of worn wood. Harry looked around to see his everyine else was doing.

Hermione, after 2 tries had manage to get the broom to jump into her hand using what she called her bossy voice. Parvati, Lily and Dean had all got it after a few tries. Seamus had gotten his a few seconds after the others, but it did seem to be slightly smoking.

Further down the line he saw Lavender’s broom tangled up in her curls while Sophie smirked at her. Ernie was holding his broom, grinning lazily as Neville tried to get his broom which was still on the ground to jump into his had. The Slytherin with blond hair was smirking at the Hufflepuff Weasley as his broom struck him in the nose. 

Half a minute later Madame Hooch blew her whistle again and everyone went quite and stared at her. She showed everyone how to mount the brooms and showed us the proper grips.

After she made sure we all had it semi-ly correct, she told us all to prepare for take off. She started counting down, but on 1 I heard a girlish scream. Neville, being nervous had accidentally pushed off to early and too hard.

He started jerkily flying up while Madame Hooch yelled at him to get back down. A few seconds later Neville feel off his broom and landed with a crunch. I winced, knowing from experience that that sound meant that he probably had broken a bone. Madame Hooch rushed over to him and picked him up off the ground. She lifted a pale, shaking Neville of the ground as he cradled his wrist against his chest. 

“I’m taking mister Longbottom to the hospital wing. Nobody is to leave the ground. If you do, you will be expelled.” Madame Hooch said as she rushed Neville inside. Lavender and Ernie darted after her, hoping to comfort Neville. As soon as the 4 of the disappeared, the blond Slytherin boy picked up something off the ground.

“Well, well, well. Looks as if crybottom dropped something.” He said, smirking as he held up a sphere. Hermione let out a gasp as I squinted to see what it was. I realized it was Neville’s rememball from his Grandmother. I was about to say something but the Hufflepuff Weasley said something first.

“Give it here Malfoy.” He cried, stalking over to Malfoy.

“And if I don’t Weasley?” Malfoy asked casual, mounting his broom and taking it off.

“I’ll be sure to tell the daily profit about you and your father. I can see the headline now. Soon of top death eater attacked son of greatest light hero’s.” Weasley said, also mounting his broom and following him. Malfoy’s pale cheeks flushed before a smirk graced his face.

“Well Weasley, if you want it so bad come and get it. Maybe you can sell it to pay off your parents terrible life choices.” Malfoy said and all the Slytherins on the ground snickered.

The two boys than started darting at each other, almost knocking each other off the brooms. They flew so that they were higher up than Gryffindor tower.

“Those two idiots are going to get each other killed.” Exclaimed Hermione as Lily, Seamus, Dean and Parvati let out gasps as the boys flew up even higher. I let out a sigh before making the stupid decision to fly up to them. 

I heard Sophie cry “You got this Potter!” And Hermione say a few choice words as I flew up to the two boys.

“Look, can you please jut give me Neville’s rememball before you two kill each other.” I said in the day quite tone I used with my broom earlier. The two boys turn to me, letting out surprised gasp when I spoke. In shock Malfoy let go of the ball and it started falling to the ground.

I quickly angled my broom down and flew after it. The wind was pushing my curls back and making my robes flow behind me as I dove. Nothing seemed to matter but me, the broom and my target. I stretched one hand and grabbed the ball and pulled up, just barley not touching the ground. I flew back over to the group and dismounted reluctantly dismounted my broom. All of them started at me with open mouths and Hermione threw her arms around me.

“You scared me you idiot. You could off been killed, or worse expelled!” Hermione said, her Curley hair tickling my nose. I shave her a squeeze, Neville’s rememball tight in my grip. She was right, being expelled and having to go back to the Dursley’s would be worse than death.

I was about to respond when I heard doors swing open and McGonagall’s quick footsteps come up behind me. I pulled out of Hermione’s hug and gripped her hand tightly.

“Weasley, Malfoy, get down from their you idiotic children.” She shouted up at the two shocked boys. “You two have detention with Madame Hooch for a moth and you each loose 75 house points.” She yelled at the boys. Before turning to me.

When she turned to me her green eyes were blazing, but softened when she met you wide emerald ones. “And you...” she began “Come with me.”

I hesitated, still gripping onto Hermione’s hand. McGonagall looked at my slightly shaking form and at mine and Hermione’s joined hands before meeting my eyes again.

“Both of you may come, actual. So hurry up, we don’t got all day.” She said gesturing at Hermione before turning in her heels and walking back to the castle. Hermione begins to run after her, pulling me with her. When we entered the castle McGonagall walks quietly with Hermione and I a few paces behind her. My hand must be trembling a little because Hermione gives it another light squeeze and leans close to me.

“Don’t worry Harry. I don’t think your getting expelled. I wouldn’t of been brought along if she was going to expel you.” She said softly. I give her a nod and a small smile and she squeezes my hand again. We keep walking until McGonagall stops outsides of the charms classroom and knocks on the door. The door opens and McGonagall pokes her head it.

“Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment” she says and I feel a shudder go through me. I knew everything was to go to be true. It was only a matter of time before I gotten beaten.

I felt the grip around my hand tighten and I looked at Hermione, who was staring at me with a worried look on her face. I blush a little, realizing that I must of been staring of to space. I’m about to say something when Professor McGonagall re-emerges with a tall, 5th year boy.

“Follow me you three.” She says as she begins to lead us down the hall. As we walk I feel wood flash me curious glances and I feel my checks heat up.

“In here” Professor McGonagall suddenly says, pointing them into a classroom that was empty except for Peeves, who was busy writing rude words on the blackboard.

"Out, Peeves!" she barked. Peeves threw the chalk into a bin, which clanged loudly, and he swooped out cursing. Professor McGonagall slammed the door behind him and turned to face the three of us.

"Potter, this is Oliver Wood. Wood -- I've found you a Seeker." She says.

Wood's expression changed from puzzlement to delight.

"Are you serious, Professor?"

"Absolutely," said Professor McGonagall crisply. "The boy's a natural. I've never seen anything like it. Was that your first time on a broomstick, Potter?"

I nod at her, too scarred to speak. As I do, McGonagall’s grin becomes even brighter. "He caught that thing in his hand after a fifty-foot dive," She said to Wood. "Didn't even scratch himself. Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it."

Wood was now looking as though all his dreams had come true at once.  
“Are you serious!” He asks McGonagall, his voice filled with excitement. She nods at him and he suddenly turns to me. I press against Hermione a little, thankful her calm presence is there as he looks at me again, a new understanding in his eyes.

“Your the first year that feel asleep at the great feast and had one of the Weasley twins carry you up.” He says. I feel my cheeks become a Gryffindor red as I nod. Him, seeing my flushed cheeks let’s out a laugh.

“Oh don’t worry about it, not many people noticed. I’m just the one who lead your group up to the tower. The Weasley twins would have had no problem finding the coming room, but the stairs listen better to prefects. By the way, which Weasley twin was carrying you.” He asked, his cheeks becoming pink at the last question.

“Fred was the one who carried me up, why?” I asked him curiously. His cheeks become even pinker.

“I just wanted to know if I could properly tell them apart. Their beaters on the team and I was curious to see if their quidditch styles reflected their everyday actions.” He said.

“Do they play differently.” Hermione said, inserting herself into the conversation.

“Umm.. not really, but Fred is slightly faster while George can hit the ball harder. Fred also seems to rely more on his ears and intuition to dodge and hit the ball while George relies on his eye sight, which is why his aim is slightly better. Not that one is better than the other, their a pair and play like that. George just is... never mind.” Oliver says quickly and I let out a giggle and Hermione joins me with her laugh a few seconds later Oliver is also laughing.

From one conversation I can already tell how dedicated Oliver is quidditch, like a Hermione is to her books. He gives off and older brother energy and I already feel comfortable around him. 

I turn back to McGonagall and their is an amused smirk on her face. She sees me looking at her and flashes me a smile.

“So, you two will meet up on Sunday so Oliver can tell you about Quidditch. Oliver, Harry was raised by muggles so he’s never really been told about Quidditch” she said. When she said that my stomach sank a little. I felt bad that Oliver was going to have to take time out of his day to tell me about Quidditch. I felt guilty that I didn’t know anything. McGonagall my of sensed that because she quickly added.

“And Harry, I’m sorry if Oliver is a little much. If you can’t tell by his eyes, Mr. Wood is a little Quidditch obsessed and can’t wait to sink his claws into you. He is going to have the time of his life going on long rants about Quidditch.” McGonagall says, flashing a small smile at the boy.

“Hey, nothing is more important than Quidditch.” Oliver says, rolling his eyes. McGonagall glares at him and let’s out a huff.

“Except for you class, which should be prioritized over Quidditch.” She says. “Which, speaking off you should probably get back to.” She says, dismissing us. Hermione and I hurry out of the classroom and we wave at Oliver before we start heading back to the practice field. When were alone in the hallway Hermione turns to me.

“Are you okay?” She asks we, worry on her face. I smile at her and give her a nod.

“If anything I’m shocked. Instead of getting expelled I’m joking the Quidditch team. Which I have no clue how to play but sounds amazing.” I said, barley containing a smile. I’m not going back to the Dursley’s and I’m joining a sports team. Something I’ve never been allowed to do before but dreamed about since I was young. Hermione flashes me a mischievous smile.

“You know what this means, right?” She asks, the smile tugging at the corner of her mouths.

“Interrogate Fred and George until they tell us everything they know?” I ask her, a smile matching hers appearing on my face. She nods and her smile become wider.

“And reading every book we can about Quidditch that we can get our hands on!” She says giddily and I let out a laugh. I may love reading but nothing will ever compare to her love of books.

“Let’s skip dinner so we can go to the library.” I say to her. She frowns at this and shakes her head.

“We were so busy talking to the twins we didn’t eat lunch, aren’t you hungry?” She asks we, concern in her eyes. I ignore the concern in her eyes and shrug my shoulders.

“No, not really. I’m a light eater.” I say, avoiding he eyes. I peak at her expression though my hair and her frown has gotten deeper, but before she can reply we reached the Quidditch field. 

Madame Hooch is back and Hermione and I quickly slide back into line. We all spend the rest of the lesson with our feet on the ground going over the proper grip. As she makes her rounds, she corrects the Hufflepuff Weasleys grip and Malfoy glares at him before she corrects his grip.

“That’s the way I’ve been taught and doing it my whole life.” He cries, glaring at her.

“Well who ever taught you must be a fool.” Weasley remarks and the two glare at each other. Madame Hooch lets out a sigh and continues down the line.

“Honestly, every time those two are together all they do are fight.” Hermione says shaking her head.

“It’s better that those two fight each other than fight us.” Dean says and Seamus voices his agreement.

“What, are you two Gryffindors scared of a Slytherin and a Hufflepuff?” Sophie says in a teasing tone.

“Never, I would just rather not waste my energy feuding with them.” Seamus says.

“Have you seen just how much their two groups fight?” Lily says, shaking her head in disgust.

“Oh I know. Draco, Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle are always fighting with Ron, Zacharias and Justin. Blaise, Theo, Hannah, Daphne and Susan all seem so fed up.” Parvati comments.

“Poor Ernie is heart broken. Hannah, Susan, Daphne and Theo were all super close with him growing up. He hates that Malfoy’s and Weasley’s rivalry has split them up.” Lily says. Sophie let’s out a snort.

“I don’t understand while people let different houses break friendships, it sound stupid to me.” She said, rolling her eyes. Hermione suddenly let out an excited sequel.

“What Hermione?” I asked her as she squeezed my hand.

“I know a way to get Ernie to talk to them!” She said and we all turned to her.

“How?” Dean asked, a little skeptical.

“We make them study together.” She replied excitedly. Seamus let out a groan.

“No, no. Hear me out. Harry and I send out an invitation to all of them asking if they want to study as a group for our first test in whatever class. They ar Ll seem pretty smart so it would make sense. If we all sit at the same table they will have to talk.”

“If I bring my twin ravenclaw sister it would be ever more believable!” Parvati said, total onboard with the idea.

“And think how much we could actually study!” Lily exclaims and Sophie elbows her. “What, that’s normal considering who were surrounded by. Future number 1 and 2 are literally standing right next to us.” She says and we all start laughing. We keep talking for a while before class is over and we head back to school. As we walk to the great hall I can’t help but smile to myself. Today has been a good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How is it that I manage to get further behind schedule timeline wise each chapter?


	7. Planning of a prank and self hate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The twins and Lee, with the help of the firsties plan a prank. Harry gets nightmares as we learn more about what his family did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took a while. I didn’t have to much time to write in the past week and I’ve been reading a lot.

Harry

When they reached the great hall their little group broke up. Parvati, Sophie and Lily went to sit next to some 2nd year girls and Dean and Seamus went and sat next to some other people. Harry and Hermione slide into their place across from the twins.

“How was flying?” Fred asked, sensing the excited aura in the air. I flash him a smile.

“Great!” I exclaim.

“Oh? Why was it so great.” George asks.

“Should we tell them?” Hermione asked, turning to me with a teasing note in her voice. I pretend to think for a second and the twins let out identical noises of protest. I turn back to them, my grin even wider and tell them in a quite voice.

“Guess who trying out for Gryffindor seeker?” I say to them, my smile becoming even larger.

“Are you-“  
“Serious!” The twins ask, glee evident on their faces. I nod my head.

“Professor McGonagall took Hermione and I to Oliver Wood. Apparently she saw me flying when I was trying to stop your brother and a kid named Malfoy. She said I was a natural and just what the team needed.”

“Well we do need some new blood.” Fred said, smirking at Harry.  
“Especially because Charlie graduated last year.” George said, mischief in his eyes.   
“We also apologize-“  
“For our idiotic brother.”

“So Charlie Weasley is your brother.” Hermione says and the twins nod.

“Yeah, he’s our second oldest brother.”  
“Works with Dragons.”  
“In Romania.”  
“He was a Gryffindor seeker.”  
“Could have been captain last year.”  
“But decide he wanted to let Oliver get used to being captain”  
“While he could still ask Charlie for guidance”  
“Not that he ever would need it.” George finished, blushing a little.

The Quartet continued to talk through dinner. The twins explained as much as they could about Quidditch to Harry and Hermione who were super curious.

Harry barley ate. He wasn’t really hungry and still didn’t trust himself to eat much without getting sick. He ate a pear because it had quickly became one of his favourite things. While he still though it was more than he deserved, he knew the twins and Hermione would realize if he ate nothing.

after dinner the 4 of them went to the library and did some of their homework. Neville sometimes joined them but he didn’t stick to a homework schedule as much as they did. The 4 of them liked getting their homework done early so they didn’t have to stress about it. This gave the twins more time to plan and execute pranks.

After they finished Homework the twins went to go perform some pranks with Lee Jordan, so Hermione and Harry borrowed some books about Quidditch and headed up to their common room. Inside the common room Parvati, Sophie and Lily were lying in front of the fire place and Dean and Seamus were cuddled up on a chair. Neville was still in the hospital wing and Lavender and Ernie were still eating in the great hall.

“Hey guys!” Lily said, waving at the duo. They waved back to her and sunk onto the couch next to the chair Dean and Seamus shared.

“Where were you guys.” Parvati asked them.

“Just at the library doing homework and grabbing some books.” Harry said with a shrug of his shoulders.

The 7 of them began talking until it was almost curfew. Just before curfew George, Fred and Lee entered the common room with identical expression of glee on their faces. Hermione let out a groan.

“What did you three do?”

“Nothing Of importance-“  
“Dear Hermione“  
“Freddie, Lee and I-“  
“Just took a simple stroll-“  
“Around the Dungeons.”  
“After all-“  
“we heard the a rumor that-  
“Slytherins look good in Purple-.”   
“And the Hufflepuffs look good in Teal-.”

“Glitter” Lee said, finishing the twins back and forth sentences. All of us let out a gasp except for Sophie who grinned.

“Awesome! By the way, if you three ever need help you know where to look.” Sophie said, her midnight blue eyes shinning.

“Will do.” Lee said smirking at her. “I could use the help when the twins are actually being good students and studying.”

“Speaking of help.” Parvati began. “What colour do you think Gryffindor would look good in?”

“Excellent question Parvati.” I said, tilting my head to the side.

“I’m thinking a navy would be nice.” Dean said.

“Or a light orange.” Seamus said.

“No, no. We need something else.” Sophie said, frowning a little.

Fred, George and Lee, catching on to our idea, also frowned a little.

“How about...” Hermione began, shocking everyone. “A rose pink?” She finishes, a smile on her lips. Everyone smiled at this.

“I believe that that could be arranged .” Lee said.

“Do you need any help?” Sophie asked, gesturing to her, Dean and Seamus as she batted her eyelashes. Lee and the twins exchanged a look before Lee nodded his head at her. Her, Dean and Seamus quickly got up and exited the common room with Lee and George. 

Lily and Parvati then got up and dragged Hermione with them to their dorm room to plan out their outfits for tomorrow, leaving Fred and Harry alone in front of the fire place.

Fred flopped onto the couch next to Harry and gently and slowly wrapped an arm around Harry. Harry hesitated before sinking into Fred’s body. He was a little embarrassed he seemed so needy but he had missed Fred’s touch.

“Hey.” Fred said quietly.

“Hey.” I whispered back. We stayed their a few minutes in silence. I listened to Fred’s steady breathing and matched it.

“Why didn’t you eat much?” Fred asked, breaking the silence. I was quite for a few seconds before responding.

“I wasn’t hungry.” I said, telling the half truth. I didn’t tell him the fact that I was never hungry. He had seen me without my shirt on the train and he had seen a few things, but I still didn’t want to tell him anything, no matter how much I trusted him. Telling only got me in trouble, and trouble only brought pain.

Fred frowned at my answer but didn’t push me for more. Instead he just pulled me closer. I stiffened a little before relaxing. We stayed like that for a few more minutes before I felt myself falling asleep.

Not wanting to embarrass him and myself again by using him as a pillow, I wiggled my way out of his grasp and stood up. I stumbled a little when I stood up and he quickly grabbed onto me to steady me. 

I felt my cheeks flush and I sent him a shy smile.

“Sorry, I stood up to fast.” I said. He let out a quite laugh and gave me a smile, but I could still see the worry in his eyes. He looked like he was about to say something but I said something before he got the chance.

“Goodnight, I’ll see your glittery blush pink self in the morning.” I said, smiling at him before rushing up to my dorm. When I reached my dorm it was empty so I quickly got dressed in the bathroom, crawled into bed and closed the curtains. I was not sure why Neville or Ernie weren’t back yet but I wasn’t going to complain. 

I cast a lumos charm which I learned from a book and a ball of light appeared on the end of my wand. I focused on making it brighter before making it leave the tip of my wand and divide into 6 small, less bright lights. They floated around me, lighting up my bed.

I then picked up a book on quidditch and began to read. After a while I heard everybody enter the dorm and get in bed. After everyone was asleep I cast another charm I heard about called a tempus. It said it was already 11:16 so I decide to put my book down and go to bed. I laid their for a while before falling into a restless slumber.

—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—

It was dark when I opened my eyes. 

I looked around expecting to see deep red curtains but I didn’t. Instead I saw the wooden walls of my cupboard. I began breathing quicker as I stretched my hands out. 

No,no,no. I wasn’t supposed to be here. I heard a pounding sound come from above me and the walls seemed to start pressing in. I pushed my hands out, trying to keep the walls from closing in. But I can’t. The room keeps getting smaller and smaller until I can feel the walls surrounding me on all sides. 

Then the cupboard door swings open and I’m ruffly pulled out of it. I don’t have time to be relieved that I’m no longer trapped because I’m trapped once again against the wall. 

This time a hand is around my neck and I’m staring at the face of my uncle and my aunt and cousin are standing next to him. I claw and the hand around my neck and the hand that is not around my neck begins punching me in the stomach. My aunt takes a step holds the frying pan in her hand. I can see it sizzling as she picks up one of my hands and presses it against it. 

I try not to scream and I bite my lip. I feel blood flowing down my chin but I don’t care. It feels like I’m being choked and I can’t breath. Their mouths are moving and it looks like their laughing, but I can’t make out the words. Black spots begin to creep into my vision as my cousin begins pinching me. All of a sudden everything begins to fade and I’m in darkness.

—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—

I wake up struggling to breath. My vision is blurry and my hands are shaking. I press one of my shaking hands against my chest and I feel my heart beating really fast. I take big, shaky breaths as my lungs scream for oxygen. It hurts to breath but I’ve faced this enough times to know that I have to ignore the pain. I sit up and place my hands over my ears and my head between my knees.

I stare at my bed sheet as I struggle to breath and silent tears drip down my cheeks. A while later my breathing falls to an acceptable speed as I feel myself calming down. I pull my head out of my knees and flop against my headboard. Everything hurts and I feel drained and exhausted, but I know I won’t be able to sleep.

I cast a tempus to find out the time. It’s 3:47 so it’s to early to really do anything. I quietly get up and walk to the bathroom. I quietly close the door and cast a lumos, not wanting to turn the light on wake my dorm mates. I look in the mirror to access the damage of my panic attack nightmare.

There are black bags below my eyes and my lip is bleeding. Their are claw marks near my collar bone from where I was clawing at my uncles hand in my dream. I pick up the hand my aunt had pressed against the frying pan and let out a relief when it’s mostly fine. Their are crescent marks from my nails but besides that it’s fine.

I then being to take my shirt off and turn so I’m looking at my back to see if I opened up any old wounds when I was thrashing. When I take my shirt of a gasp escapes me. 

I don’t like looking at my body often, but it looks better then it’s been in the past. A lot of my most recent wounds have healed and all the other ones are scabs or almost all scabbed. All the bruises are still there in varying shades of black, yellow and purple, but they don’t hurt as much. All the ugly, disgraceful scars are there. I ignore them and focus on my more recent injuries.

What ever spell Fred used was really helpful. They haven’t been hurting as much and are healing much quicker. I already normally heal quicker than other people, but when I have a lot of smaller injuries I heal at a regular pace. 

I then hesitantly turn so I’m looking at the place I didn’t show Fred. My chest has just as many scars as my back but their worse. Instead of normal scars my uncle liked to carve words into me. Most of them are near my chest area, but I also have one on my arm and one on my leg. The words say things like freak, boy, disgrace, liar, delinquent, worthless, fag and other hurtful terms.

Besides all the scars on my chest, I can see every single rib. I know it’s not normal to see every rib and I hate the way my body looks. All those years of being starved at the hands of the Dursley has left a physical toll.

I can’t eat much without my stomach rejecting it all so I can’t gain weight. Any progress I do make with my body will be reverted every summer with I go back to the Dursley’s.

I let out a sigh as I continue to look at my pitiful body. I know I’m strong after years of doing physical labour for the Dursley’s, but it doesn’t show on my skeletal form.

I turn away from the mirror so I no longer have to look at my body. I throw on a new shirt that goes past the pockets of my pjs, almost reaching my knees. I walk back over to my bed and climb in, falling back into a restless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After potions class I’m thinking I’m going to start rushing through the classes more so I can get first year over with. I can’t really start the relationships until 3rd year so year 2 will also be shorter.


	8. The problems with glitter and potions.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Hermione see the results of their friends glitter prank. They also experience their first potions class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are some quotes that are taken from the book that I changed slightly. I’m sorry that this took a while. I was reading a lot and didn’t know how to work this chapter.
> 
> *I just edited this chapter because I wasn’t happy with how it went. I edited the potions class bit the most. I wanted Professor Snape to be cruller in the beginning. The reason I had struggled with it because with Ron not being in the class, and Harry being okay, I didn’t know who Snape would torment. I than remembered Ernie, Lavender and Seamus, so.... sorry to them. And just because Harry is good at potions, doesn’t mean that Snape will torment him. He will just find other reasons.

Harry

Friday’ morning, I woke up from a nightmare and 5:45. Unable to fall back asleep, I silently got up and ready for the day before heading down to the common room. 

I silently made my way down the stairs and to the common room. The fire was casting a soft orange glow on the room, giving it a homey feel. A few s mostly older students were sitting in the common room. I saw Hermione reading on a couch by the window me I walked over to her. She acknowledged I was there with a small nod, but didn’t look up from her book. I stood there for a few seconds before she spoke. 

“What are you doing up?” She asked me, turning her page.

“I’m just an early riser and I don’t always sleep the best.” I responded, as I sank into the couch next to her. She raised an eyebrow at my response.

“Nervous?”

“A little. It’s double potions with the Slytherins today.” I said with a sigh.

“I’m actually quite excited for potions.” She said, turning another page. 

“I am to, but Professor Snape has been glaring at me everyday and the twins said he hated most Gryffindors.”

“Most?”

“Apparently he was fond of the twins brother Bill. He was part of his first first year class and the tensions between house weren’t as extreme as they are now. The twins said that Bill and Snape used to participate in friendly banter and that he was Bill’s favourite teacher.”

“Ah, so the happiness wasn’t yet squashed out of him yet by annoying young kids.” Hermione said, smirking at her book.

“Hermione! We are part of those young, annoying kids.”

“No Harry, we are kids, sure. But we aren’t annoying or immature. Can you imagine how stressful it must be making sure kids don’t cause an explosion or a fatal accident?”

“Or accidentally poison themselves.” I said with a shiver

“Exactly. As you know, in the muggle world chemistry doesn’t start until people are older and more mature.”

“I get your point, but it doesn’t make sense for why he’s always glaring at me.” I said, letting out another sigh. Hermione scrunches up her face before smiling slightly.

“Who knows, maybe he can sense the reckless vibes waving off you.”

“Hermione, I am not reckless.” I declared and she she patted me on the back. We both broke down laughing as I felt myself smiling, my bad dreams and thoughts pushed to the back of my mind. 

I glanced at the pile of books sitting in front of Hermione and scan the titles. Hermione closed her book around her finger for a second as she also scans the titles. She than pulls one of them from the pile and hands it to me.

“Here, I think you’ll like this one. This is a potions book there explains ingredients, their uses and how different methods of preparing of them changes them. This should help you be less worried about potions.”

I gently take the book and smile. It’s nice having someone care for me and realize what I’m thinking. 

“Thank you.” I say, and Hermione beams at me. We both bury our noses in the books and get to reading. A little while later we are interrupted by the twins coming down.

“Hey Harry, Hey Hermione. Are you two ready for a colourful morning?” Fred asks as he and George have identical mischievous smiles.

“Yep, I’m getting ready to see some pink, purple and teal this morning.” I reply, smirking at them. Hermione rolls her eyes, but also has a small smile.

“I wonder how long it will take for them to get rid of the glitter once it is deployed?” She said.

“Is that a challenge our dear Hermione? George asked

“Not a challenge no, just a question.” Hermione said, blinking innocently.

“Well, just some advice for our favourite non-icky firsties, you might want to cover yourselves when you walk out of the common room-“ Fred begins  
“Not that you have to, it’s just some insider knowledge.” George adds. Hermione raises her eyebrow at them before beginning to pack up her bag. I slam my book shut and do the same thing. 

Before we leave the common room I wrap myself tightly in my cloak and put my bag on top of my head. Hermione does the same thing but takes her scarf out and wraps it around her bag.

We open the portrait and bolt out of the common room into the hallway. As we run through the opening I feel glitter rain down on us. We keep running until we’re near the top of the staircase. When we get their I remove the bag from on top of my head and look at Hermione.

Her scarf is coated in glitter and her face and hair has a few specks in it that makes her shine and look pretty. The back top portion of her cloak is absolute coated in glitter, but besides that the rest of her cloak has only a few specks of glitter so it looks like a galaxy.

“You know, the glitter doesn’t look to bad in you.” I say to her smiling, she smiles back at me as well.

“It actual looks like it was done purposely on you. Your hair and cloak both look like the night sky and the glitter on your face looks like glittery freckles. If anything it makes you look cuter.” She says and I laugh.

“Your glitter in your hair makes you look like a performer and the ones on your face makes your feature like your cheek bones and eyes pop. And your cloak looks like a galaxy.” I exclaim and it’s her turn to laugh.

“From your description I would love to ask the twins to do this everyday, but I think that would be an absolutely terrible idea.” She said, still laughing. 

“Oh no yeah, I defiantly agree.” I exclaim, feeling my eyes widen. If we gave the twins permission to prank us like every day I would fear for my life.

We continue to the great hall, laughing at random students from other houses we pass. The only ones left untouched were the Ravenclaws.

“Well, we now know who’s sleeping with a Ravenclaw.” Hermione remarks as after we pass a Hufflepuff student not covered in glitter. 

“Or we know what Ravenclaws are sleeping with what house.” I add as I see a Ravenclaw on purple glitter walk past. We laugh about that until we reach the great hall. When we enter the great hall their is not many people there.

We start eating breakfast, watching as students and teachers enter the great hall In carrying amounts of glitter. Professor McGonagall is rather glitter free, with most of it being on her robes and hat, making us think that she knew better than to try washing it off. 

Unfortunately for Professor Flitwick, he is covered from head to toe in glitter, with only his glasses being glitter free. 

A few minutes later more students appear, some of them covered in head to toe in glitter with some of theirs being the most obnoxious shades of pink, teal and purple. Draco Malfoy enters in an especially violent shade of magenta purple and Ron Weasley enters in a flashing puke shade of teal.

Hermione and I sniggered when Lavender, Neville and Ernie enter covered in hot pink glitter.

After a while longer of watching people walk in in various shades of glitter and having people yell at the Ravenclaws, Hermione and I decided to wave goodbye to our friends and explore the castle a little bit before heading to the dungeons.

As we were walking around we ran into the Weasley twins who’s glitter placement was somehow almost as identical as they were. We talked for a little while about the glitter and the blaming of the Ravenclaws. We than said goodbye and walked to the potions classroom and entered 10 minutes before class started.

Only 3 people were there when we entered. They were all Slytherins. Two were male and 1 was female. They were all lightly covered in light purple glitter. One of the boys had his nose burried in a book while the other boy and girl chatted softly.

Hermione and I sat in the front on the Gryffindor side of the room next to them. We quickly unpacked our bags while they talked quietly to each other. When we finished unpacking Hermione turned to them.

“Hello, my name is Hermione Granger. Who are you?” Hermione asked. They blinked at us for a second before the girl responded.

“I’m Daphne Greengrass and these two are Blaise Zambini and Theodore Nott.” She said, pointing too herself than to the two boys.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Harry Potter.” I said, smiling shyly. The boy with his nose in the book quickly unburied himself from the book and the other two raised an eyebrow. It looks like Blaise is about to say something when the door to the classroom opens and more students walk in covered in glitter.

Everyone sits down on their designated side of the room. Lavender sits with Ernie, Lily sits with Parvati, Sophie sits with Dean and Neville and Seamus sit together.

Suddenly the dungeon door flies open again and Professor Snape stalks into the room, his black robes billowing behind him. He has a scowl on his face when he reaches his desk and turns to look at all of us.

I felt a shiver go me. It was colder here than up in the main castle, and the pickled animal jars only added to Snape’s terrifying image.

Snape glared at us in turn before, like Flitwick, starting the class by taking the roll call. As he goes down the list he pauses at my name.

"Ah, yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new—celebrity."

Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they had none of Hagrid's warmth. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but everyone caught every word—like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. 

"There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this class. As such, I don't expect many of you to appreciate the subtle science of the potion making. However, for those of you who possess the pre-disposition, I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses; I can tell you how to brew glory ,bottle fame, and even put a stopper in death. Then again, maybe some of you have come to Hogwarts in possession of abilities so formidable that you feel comfortable enough to not pay attention...”

"Potter!" Snape snarled suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Hermione raises her hand as I think for a moment. I feel Snape’s glare on me as I try to remember.

“I think you would get the draught of living death.” I reply. He lets out a snort and his glare intensifies as he asks the next question.

“Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?" He says, smirking.

“You would find it in a medical kit or potions storage.” I reply, growing a little nervous. He was glaring at me like Uncle Vernon would before he would punish me, 

“Tut, tut- fame isn’t clearly everything. Let’s try one more time. What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

“There the same thing.” I answer and the Professor smirks. I feel a shiver go through me as he turns to his chalk board and begins writing on it as he talks.

“While mr. Potter is correct that asphodel and wormwood make the Draught of Living Death , he stupidly forgot the most important thing. It’s is extremely powerful sleeping potion.” 

“And while it is true that the potion storage or med wing will have it, A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomack of a goat. You need to know that because it will save you from most poisons.” 

“As for monkshood and wolfsbane, yes, they are the same plant, but it most commonly goes by the name of aconite. That is it’s most important name, and a well known fact.” 

“While in potions you need to pay attention to every little fact, we don’t want any accidents happing, do we?” Snape finished with a smirk in my direction. 

Well? Why aren't you all copying that down.” Snape barks out after a pause, his black eyes glaring at everyone.

Everyone quickly pulled out their parchment and quills and began to take notes. Halfway through the class Professor Snape had us start on making a boils cure.

Hermione quickly gathered the ingredients as I set up our cauldron. Both of us were muggle raised and had never made a potion before so we decided to tackle it like we would cooking. I had been cooking for the Dursley’s ever since I was 6 so this seemed pretty easy and familiar to me.

Hermione and I silently prepared our ingredients and began making the potion. Professor Snape flitted through the classroom, watching people’s potions and making remarks. He made most of the remarks about Gryffindors, and only praised the snakes. He ignored Hermione and I and I was glad for that.

40 minutes later, we took it off the fire before adding 2 porcupine quills and stirring it counterclockwise 5 times. A pink smoke began to emote off the cauldron, letting us know it was brewed correctly.

As Hermione and I began bottling our potion we heard a pop and a cry. We turned around to see Professor Snape glaring at Neville, Seamus and their melted cauldron.

"Idiot brats!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"

Neville let out a whimpering noise and Seamus looked at his feet. Snaps let out another snarl and turned his back to them.

“Brown, Macmillan. Why didn’t you say anything and stop those dunderheads.” Snape said with a growl. 

“We didn’t-“ Lavender began before Snape cut her off. 

“I guess you brats though that they messing up would make you abysmal potions skills look better.” Snape said with a growl. “That’s 5 points from Gryffindor.” 

“Professor we would never-“ Ernie began before being shut up by a glare from Professor Snape. He stuck his nose in the air and strolled back to his desk, his robes billowing behind him as he walked. When he reached his desk he turned around and smirked at the class. 

“5 more points from Gryffindor for being idiots and failing to follow simple instructions. Everyone bottle up your potions and put them on my desk before anymore of you buffoons causes an accident.”

Hermione and I quickly finished bottling and labeling our potions before putting them on professors Snape’s desk. Ours was almost the correct shade of sapphire blue, while others were light blue, teal, navy and even green. Professor Snape then dismissed everyone with a glare and muttering about insolent brats and stuck up students. 

Everyone quickly gathered up their stuff and high-tailed it out of the classroom before Snape could start yelling at them. They still technically had 5 minutes left in potions class and lunch didn’t start for another 10 minutes, but no one wanted to correct Professor Snape. To kill some time, Hermione and I broke off from the group and headed to the library. We stayed in the library until heading to the great hall to rejoin the others for lunch.

The rest of the day went pretty quickly after that. Professor Flitwick and McGonagall figured out how to remove the Weasley’s glitter right before dinner, but they still didn’t know it was the Weasley twins who did it.

During dinner, all the first year Gryffindors were talking about what they were going to do during the weekend, but I didn’t join the conversation. I but my lip when I began to think of my weekend plan. I had the medical scan this weekend and I wasn’t looking forward to it. No adult had ever been able to help me before and all those I trusted had betrayed me. I went through the rest of the night and autopilot and didn’t fully return to my mind until I was lying down in bed.

I couldn’t fall asleep and when I did, I slept restlessly. My mind was thinking to loudly, and every time I close me eyes, I was plagued with memories or what I though would happen at the appointment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be the med wing visit!


End file.
